Planetarium
by Umeko Tsumagoi
Summary: I'm not going all-out for NaNoWriMo this year but I at least want to write something every day so I figure why not do the 30 Day OTP Challenge? Probably mostly Kuzuhina (and Kamukuzu?), but I might also write Naegami and fun stuff like that! Day 30: Doing something hot (kuzuhina). And that's the end!
1. Holding hands (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Okay, a bit of a long note but this needs some explanation...

This year for NaNoWriMo, I'm not aiming for 50k words, but I still wanted to challenge myself to write something every day. So... 30 Day OTP Challenge let's go! I think it's mostly going to be Kuzuhina since it's my current main ship and all, but I'll sprinkle in other ships and fandoms as needed to keep the momentum going haha.

If you're reading this on fanfiction dot net, I'm just going to be posting the Danganronpa stuff here since the FFN's fandom tagging system (or lack thereof) is much less versatile than on AO3. If I miss a day or two here, chances are I've written for a different fandom for that day, and if you're curious you can find whatever I wrote on AO3 instead. (Or I just fell behind and missed a day or two or ten. This is the more likely scenario tbh.)

Since this is NaNoWriMo, I'm not sparing much time for editing, so there might be typos and repetitive phrasing and garbage that I just won't catch. Please bear this in mind! I'll try to come back and polish things up in December.

Settings will range from canon compliant to canon divergent to straight-up AU, established relationship to pre-relationship to just plain being assholes to each other... Whatever it takes to fill the prompts, haha. Today it's Island Mode AU!

And, uh... *glances at the prompt list* ...the rating may change. Heh.

* * *

 **Day 1: Holding hands**

"Fuck!"

Hinata couldn't help but laugh as Kuzuryu fell unceremoniously into the surf, even as he got caught in the splashback. "I told you," he said. "The rocks are slippery out here. Be careful."

Grumbling, Kuzuryu stood back up and peeled off his soaked jacket, then tossed it back to shore. "I don't even see why we need to go hunting for Jabbapearls or whatever the shit. We don't need them to make those flower pins, right?"

"True, but..." Hinata's breath hitched as an incoming wave threatened to knock him off balance; he just barely managed to regain his footing in time. "I mean, yeah, they're not _really_ necessary, but I think they could come in handy? Nidai said they could be used in a supplement to increase productivity so..."

Kuzuryu wobbled precariously as a slightly larger wave rolled in. "Don't see the point in taking the dumb rabbit's projects _that_ seriously, but whatever. Aren't there easier places for finding these pearls, though?" He glared down at the water, as if the entire Pacific Ocean was solely to blame for his lack of balance. "I mean, does it have to be _rocks_? Why not can't we search in the sand?"

Hinata turned back towards him and placed a hand to his chin, thinking. "That's... actually a good point. What kind of habitat _do_ oysters live in?"

"You don't _know?!_ "

"Well... do you?"

" _No_ I don't fucking know where oysters live! But why would you assume it's on these slippery-as-fuck rocks?!"

"I figured it would be good camouflage, maybe..." Hinata turned his gaze further out, towards the horizon. "Now that I think of it, though, I've heard of people going oyster diving. So maybe we should swim out further..."

"No fucking way!" Kuzuryu took several steps back, shaking his head as his expression teetered on the edge of absolutely livid. "I told you before, dumbass, I'm _not_ swimming out any further than— shit!"

Hinata winced when the yakuza fall backwards into the water again, this time managing to soak himself from head to toe. Trying not to laugh, the brunet took a few tentative steps forward. "Do you need some help there?"

Kuzuryu's golden eyes flashed dangerously. "No. Fuck you."

"Oh come on." Hinata crept closer and held out a hand. "It's slippery, so let's hold on to each other for support."

For a long moment Kuzuryu made no move to stand, glaring up at him even as salt water dripped from his long lashes, but finally he reached up and took Hinata's proffered hand.

Then Hinata felt a violent jerk, and in the next instant salt water was rushing into his nostrils like daggers as he face planted right into the surf.

"Fuck!" Kuzuryu gasped breathily over sound of splashing water.

Coughing, Hinata removed his elbow from where it had landed squarely on Kuzuryu's stomach and rolled off the smaller boy into a sitting position. "Yeah, well," he managed to wheeze, "maybe you should have taken my hand like a civilized person instead of doing _that_."

Kuzuryu only grumbled under his breath, and as Hinata tried to blink against his stinging eyes, he almost thought that— _maybe_ —Kuzuryu's cheeks looked just a little bit pinker than usual.

For a while, as Hinata tried to wipe off his face (which predictably didn't do much to help, seeing as his hands were _just as soaked)_ , the two of them sat silently, the water lapping gently against their legs.

"So," Hinata said finally. "Maybe we should just forget about the pearls today and head back."

Just barely audible over the surf, Kuzuryu murmured his assent.

* * *

 **Notes:** i imagined this ending a lot more fluffily but kuzuryu decided to be a dick, oh well.


	2. Cuddling somewhere (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** WHOOPS I HAD TO UP THE RATING ALREADY HOW DID THIS HAPPEN

I wrote this with Kibougaoka AU in mind (aka the same universe as my fic Waiting for Rainbows) but really I guess it applies to any non/post-Tragedy established relationship setting ahahahagjhakjdfsf

* * *

 **Day 2: Cuddling somewhere**

There were a lot of things that Hinata loved about Kuzuryu. Or rather, there weren't many things he _didn't_ love about him, but of the things he loved there were several that he could never, ever voice aloud—not if Hinata valued his life, at least.

Kuzuryu tended to react violently to most sentiments that could be construed as _sweet_ or _tender_. It made sense, as he wanted to maintain an image that would command respect in the criminal underground, but Hinata regretted a least a little bit that he had to keep quiet about how cute Kuzuryu's freckles were. He couldn't point out that Kuzuryu's sweet tooth was absolutely adorable.

And he _certainly_ couldn't mention that Kuzuryu was the perfect size for cuddling.

Cuddling, in particular, was a practice that Kuzuryu feigned vehement opposal towards. "I'm _not_ cuddling you," he would insist, even as he was curled comfortably in Hinata's arms. "I don't _cuddle_." He spat the word as if it left a sour taste on his tongue.

"I think this would qualify as cuddling," Hinata would sometimes point out, if he felt like pushing his boyfriend's buttons.

" _You're_ the one cuddling _me._ " Despite his protests, Kuzuryu's cheeks and ears would grow red and oh-so-kissable. "I'm just letting you, 'cause I'm nice like that. And, you know. It's cold, anyway."

Hinata would let the issue drop there, even though it was unbearably tempting to point out the holes in his logic, to ask what his excuse would be when the weather warmed up, to place soft kisses on Kuzuryu's flushed cheeks and nose and ears. He didn't want to push too far and end up getting kicked out of Kuzuryu's futon onto the unforgiving tatami floor.

That was fine, though. It was obvious that Kuzuryu enjoyed their cuddling just as much as Hinata did, even if he wouldn't admit it. Hinata just couldn't tell him how much he loved the way Kuzuryu's head would nestle just underneath the crook of his chin, as if he were a puzzle piece that was always meant to be there. That particular indulgence had to stay locked up inside, just like all the other little things that would rustle Kuzuryu's feathers... usually.

Because, with some after some experimentation, Hinata found that he _could_ bare his sweetest, most reverent thoughts with few repercussions, if done in the midst of lovemaking. They were both already baring all else anyway. Hinata was free to share even the most tender of emotions, private whispers that weren't so much words as sensory stimulation breathed against fevered skin, and Kuzuryu's protests remained limited to mild whines to stop focusing there, dumbass, just _move, go faster._

"You're perfect, you know," Hinata murmured against Kuzuryu's temple one night. Kuzuryu responded with a pleased mumble against his shoulder, and he continued. "I just love how small you are."

"Mmh... wait, what... did you just say about me?"

Hinata slowed his movements, just slightly, realizing that admitting that might not have been the best idea, but... "I mean it," he said, placing a soft kiss upon Kuzuryu's now-furrowed brow. "You're just the perfect size."

"For what?!"

"For... well... for this," Hinata breathed, giving Kuzuryu a meaningful look as he placed a hand upon his cheek. "And for holding. And cuddling. It's like God made sure you didn't grow any taller, just so your body would fit mine perfectly."

Hinata knew even as he said it that he wasn't doing the best job at expressing himself, his hormone-addled mind focused more on sex than stringing long, elaborate sentences together, but he watched, enthralled, as Kuzuryu's face turned an impressive shade of red, all the way down to his neck and shoulders.

"You... you..." Kuzuryu's grip tightened harshly around Hinata's biceps. "Fucking... hurry and finish up so I can kick your fucking ass for that!"

Hinata chuckled, just a touch of nervousness coloring his tone, before kissing Kuzuryu's enraged pout and resuming.

So maybe saying that wasn't _totally_ without repercussions... but perhaps he could make Kuzuryu forget his threat before they finished.

* * *

 **Notes:** HOW WAS THE GODDAMN CUDDLING PROMPT THE ONE THAT BUMPED THE RATING UP TO M LMAO

also i've never written smut before i'm sorry


	3. Watching a movie (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Island Mode, Kuzuhina.

 **Day 3: Watching a movie**

Kuzuryu was positive that he had been _very_ fucking clear about Hinata not picking a boring movie. After all, Hinata had been the one to ask _him_ to hang out, so the _least_ he could do was choose a movie that didn't suck.

So he had some nerve to go and _fall asleep not even twenty minutes in_.

Kuzuryu's nails scraped against the popcorn tub as he flexed his fingers in frustration. Sure, maybe they hadn't been given the best selection of movies to choose from—while the theater showed the occasional action or horror movie, Usami seemed to have a proclivity towards children's films and cheesy romance flicks, and they just hadn't lucked out on that day. But they were already at the theater, so why not give _Dimples the Wonderdoodle and the Teetering Troubles of Candy Kingdom_ a try, maybe it would be fun to make jokes at its expense or something. But no, Hinata just decided to escape into slumber, leaving Kuzuryu all on his own to watch the least threatening dewy-eyed devil-horned kitten ever run around giving the residents of Candy Kingdom cavities because... reasons, or something.

Hinata was honestly the _worst_ date ever.

Er. Guy friend. Bro. Something like that, not a _date_.

Sulking, Kuzuryu took to pelting Hinata with popcorn, but by the time that had lost its appeal and Hinata was _still_ just snoring away, only two minutes had passed and Dimples the Wonderdoodle was no closer to getting his shit together and bringing the absolutely painful excuse of a conflict to a swift end.

Kuzuryu sighed and slouched back in the his seat. It was incredibly tempting to just get up and leave, but _he_ wasn't a shit friend like Hinata; he wasn't just going to abandon him and let him wake up to godawful preschooler cartoons. The best option, then, was just to fall asleep himself.

So he made himself comfortable, leaned against Hinata's arm for support, and closed his eyes. Blocking out Dimples' platitudes of friendship and cooperation, he let himself be lulled to sleep by Hinata's soft and steady breathing.

 **Notes:** Sorry this one was so short, I decided to take it easy after yesterday, heh.


	4. On a date (naegami)

**Notes:** Pre-Tragedy, Naegami.

* * *

 **Day 4: On a date**

"Well? Get on with it."

"Uh, right!" Naegi winced at the way his voice cracked under pressure. He stared down at his sneakers and tried not to fidget, acutely aware of not only Togami's icy glare, but also of Maizono, Asahina, and Kirigiri watching from around the corner of the gym building.

This was not how Naegi had wanted this to go.

Maizono had been prodding Naegi to confess to Togami ever since she had "guessed" his crush a month prior. Which was fine, it was all in good, friendly fun, but then Asahina had gotten involved as well, adding more force behind their suggestions, and Kirigiri...

He honestly wasn't sure why Kirigiri joined in. Maybe she found it _amusing_ to get involved in his love life; Naegi still hadn't managed to figure her out completely.

Whatever the reason, the girls had made it their mission to coach Naegi on confessing to Byakuya Togami, and that was what ultimately led to him calling the other boy out that day— "To a cherry tree by the gym!" Asahina had insisted, even though it was still only February. "Love confessions _have_ to happen under a cherry tree near a school gym!"

If it had been anyone else besides Asahina, Naegi _might_ have thought that watching him confess underneath dead, barren branches was part of some sick joke.

Kirigiri had suggested leaving a letter in Togami's shoe locker. Naegi had preferred that; he had actually rather _liked_ it, but Asahina was a force to be reckoned with when she got an idea in her head.

"Do you plan on standing here all day, then?"

Naegi's head jerked up. "What? Oh, no, um..." He felt his cheeks burning. "Sorry! I just... was thinking about something..."

Raising a thin, blond eyebrow, Togami began tapping a foot impatiently. "Whatever it is, finish your _thinking_ and tell me what you want from me."

Oh, jeez. Naegi really couldn't put this off any longer; at this rate, even if he _did_ manage to spill his guts, he'd be outright rejected simply for wasting the Togami heir's time. But the thought of telling Togami—and with the girls watching, too... That wasn't...

"Do..." Naegi gulped. "Do you want to walk home together, maybe?"

Embarrassed, Naegi stared determinedly at his shoelaces—oh, they had come undone at some point. Now they were brown and gross from being dragged through the dead grass and mud. Great.

Togami scoffed. "Surely you know your way back to the dorms by now?"

"I— well, yeah..." Naegi's ears burned. "I just thought it might be nice to... go together?"

"It's hardly a five-minute walk to the south quarter."

Naegi grimaced. "If you don't want to, you can just say so..."

He peeked up again to see Togami pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose before sighing. "I suppose I can allow you to accompany me, if you insist," he said, as if nothing could pain him more. "I expect you to keep pace, though. No dawdling."

Naegi blinked up at him incredulously, warmth blooming in his chest. "Uh, yeah! Of course!" He grinned—there really wasn't any reason to feel _that_ giddy about the situation, because like Togami said, it was only a few minutes' walk to the neighboring section of campus. But still... well, he had managed to invite Togami somewhere, and he had said _yes_.

That was progress. Right?

As Togami stalked away from the tree, Naegi spared a glance toward the gym building—he didn't see the girls there anymore. He was sort of expecting to get a thumbs-up from Asahina, a pleased flush on Maizono's face, a slight encouraging smirk from Kirigiri, but they were nowhere to be found.

Maybe they had given decided to give them some space. Shrugging, Naegi dutifully followed after Togami.

The walk to the dorms was short, and silent—the boys shared no conversation, and Naegi could barely even look at Togami, and before he knew it they had arrived at the dormitory.

"Oh," Naegi said, as if surprised to end up in the front hall of the building. "Well, here we are, then."

"Yes..." Togami peered at him curiously. "So what was the point of all that?"

"Oh, uh..." Naegi waved his hands in front of himself dismissively. "No-nothing, really! I just... it was kind of nice walking together, don't you think? Maybe we can do it again sometime!"

Togami gave him a withering look before turning with an a noncommittal huff and walking down the hall to his dorm room.

Unsure what to make of that entire exchange—was that a good sign? bad? Had Naegi even managed to accomplish _anything_?—he stood silently in the hall, staring after him.

"Whoa," came a voice, and Naegi jumped, turning on his heel to see Enoshima leaning against the wall, a Cheshire cat grin spreading across her face. "What was _that_ just now?"

Naegi fidgeted with the hem of his jacket. "Oh, uh..."

"That was a _date_ ," came Maizono's voice as she entered the dorm building, smiling triumphantly.

"A da—?!" Naegi squawked, his face heating up.

"Oh really?" Enoshima eyed up Maizomo, her gaze flitting over Asahina and Kirigiri behind her. "Because I was watching them from the window, and I'd have to say that was the _least_ date-like date I've ever seen."

"It counts!" Asahina protested. "Naegi invited Togami, and Togami said yes! That counts as a date!"

"I'm not sure it does, really."

" _Quiet_ , Kirigiri-chan, you're not helping our side!"

Naegi stumbled backwards a bit, feeling like his head was spinning as he tried to process the girls' argument. Their "side"? What was going on?

"Did I hear that Naegi and Togami went on a date?"

Naegi spun around to see Ogami arriving from the other wing of the dorms, followed by Celeste and a rather sour-looking Fukawa.

"It wasn't a date!" Naegi insisted. "We just walked home together!"

"No, no, Naegi-kun," Maizono whispered in his ear as she came over and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Just say that it was a date. Do it for me, please?"

"For _you_?!"

"Oh, my, Maizono-san," Celeste said, steepling her fingers together with a pleasant smile. "Do you mean to tell me that you're not confident enough to let the chips fall as they may?"

Maizono's grip tightened almost imperceptibly, and Naegi gaped at the group surrounding them—Ikusaba had joined at her sister's shoulder, making the entirety of class 78's female population present and accounted for. And they were all looking at Naegi curiously, expectantly.

"Can... can I ask what's going on?" he said meekly.

The group was silent for a short moment before finally, Ogami sighed. "They've all been... expecting you and Togami to start... dating."

"Oh, Sakura-chan," Asahina laughed, bounding over to her friend. "You know you're as much a part of this as the rest of us!"

"No, I—"

"They were _betting_ on your success with Byakuya-sama," Fukawa spat.

"Fukawa-chan!"

Naegi's eyes grew wide. "Wh— betting?! On _us_?!"

"Yes," Kirigiri admitted with a sigh. "On who would confess to whom, and when, and where..."

Naegi gaped openly at the girls. "But— wait, how did you all even _know_ that I felt that way for—"

"Oh, _honey_ ," Enoshima cut in, her eyes shining with amusement. She didn't elaborate any further.

Her brow furrowed, Celeste gave an irritated sigh. "Yes, well, I suppose it's no longer a secret, is it? We were _supposed_ to simply watch and see what happened, but..." Her scarlet gaze raked over Asahina, to Maizono, and then to Kirigiri. "As I recall, the ones who thought that it would be Naegi-kun confessing sometime before Valentine's Day..."

Naegi whipped his head around to gawk at Maizono, scandalized. "You were just trying to _win_?!"

"Of course not, Naegi-kun!" The pop star folded her hands under her chin, the very picture of innocence. "I was trying to help you out! I mean, it's true that it benefited me a little too, but..."

"Seriously, Naegi," Asahina added. "It's for your own good!"

Frustrated and not a little embarrassed, Naegi shook his head and backed away from the crowd. "I... look, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but... I'd prefer if you just let me handle this on my own from now on." With that, he walked down the hall towards his room, rubbing at his reddened cheeks.

He sighed as he reached for his doorknob, ready to just collapse in bed and forget about the entire afternoon.

"Naegi-kun."

He jumped, surprised to see Kirigiri leaning against the wall opposite his door. How did she get there so fast?! "Yes?!"

She studied him carefully, tugging at her braid in thought. "I hope you know that they didn't mean any harm. Of course, placing bets on your love life wasn't the most... tactful decision, but..."

Naegi shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'm not mad about that, it's just... embarrassing."

Kirigiri nodded, then pushed herself off from the wall to head back. "Good. Ah, but one more thing..."

He blinked at her curiously. "Yeah?"

She gave him a playful smirk. "It's not too late to leave that note in his shoe locker, you know."

* * *

 **Notes:** it occurs to me that I'm not doing a terribly good job sticking to the prompts THIS WASN'T A DATE YOU SILLY BOYS LOL. And you can't really say that the movie yesterday was actually being _watched_ , and there was minimal cuddling and hand-holding the days previous...

Tomorrow's prompt is kissing. Will there ACTUALLY be kissing? Who knows! It's a mystery!


	5. Kissing (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Canon(!), Kuzuhina.

* * *

 **Day 5: Kissing**

It seemed ridiculous for it to happen in the middle of a killing game, but at some point, Kuzuryu had become Hinata's primary focus.

He wasn't sure exactly when it had happened; maybe it had started at the very beginning, which when Kuzuryu had immediately isolated himself from the rest of the group. The few times that he _did_ show up, it was such a novelty Hinata couldn't help but take notice and try to engage him in conversation.

But his attention towards the young yakuza really took hold in the wake of the second trial and Pekoyama's execution. Hinata had supposed that it was the same for the rest of their classmates—Kuzuryu was just barely hanging on to life, so of _course_ they would all be concerned for him—but the unrelenting worry that Kuzuryu wasn't nearby, that Hinata couldn't see with his own eyes that Kuzuryu was safe and sound... it just seemed a little strange.

And then they were quarantined together, and Kuzuryu _was_ nearly constantly in view, and yet Hinata _still_ couldn't keep his eyes off of him. Even though he was obviously alive, he was walking around, and he seemed to be in much better shape than he honestly should have been.

There was very little for the two of them to do while Tsumiki tended to patients, so during the times when restlessly pacing the floor lost its appeal, he and Kuzuryu had actually _talked_ for the first time since arriving on the island. With Kuzuryu finally beginning to let his guard down, Hinata found that he was was surprisingly easy to get along with, and he became more and more fascinated by the boy. He just couldn't put his finger on why.

Hinata was shaken from his thoughts as Kuzuryu stepped back into the hospital, groaning a bit as he dropped into one of the waiting room chairs. "Shit... think the painkillers are starting to wear off. Has Tsumiki come out at all?"

"No, not recently..." Hinata peered at Kuzuryu curiously. "So you _don't_ just have a freakishly high tolerance for pain, then?"

"If you tell anyone I'll seriously kill you."

Hinata laughed. "Fine, fine. Then if we're speaking in confidence anyway, do you want me to kiss the pain away for you?"

The words fell from Hinata's mouth thoughtlessly and effortlessly, and he was horrified by the realization of what he said. Kuzuryu stared, wide-eyed, his face flushing and mouth flapping uselessly, as if he couldn't decide exactly how enraged he wanted to be.

He finally settled on, "Are— are you treating me like a some kind of _kid_?!"

"N-no, I..." _just kind of want to kiss you_ , Hinata's brain supplied helpfully, and a knot formed in his throat when he realized, oh god, that was the _truth_ , so either he had contracted some sort of Wanting-To-Kiss-Kuzuryu strain of the Despair Disease, or the reason he couldn't stop thinking of Kuzuryu was... "I mean, if that's the part you take issue with, I could kiss you for normal reasons instead."

Hinata sure hoped it was Despair Disease, because _what the hell was he saying_.

Kuzuryu's blush had only deepened, and he looked away, running his fingers through his short hair. "You... Hinata. Come here real quick."

Hesitantly, Hinata walked over sat down in the chair next to him.

They sat silently for a beat before Kuzuryu slowly raised his hand and placed it on Hinata's forehead.

His hand was cool, but probably not as cool as it would have felt if Hinata had had a high fever. _Shit._

Still not meeting Hinata's eyes, Kuzuryu dropped his hand and took a deep breath, then let it out in a hiss. "I'm not letting you kiss my fucking boo-boos away, dumbass."

"Right," Hinata agreed, his tongue feeling like lead in his mouth.

"And you should go get some rest. You haven't been sleeping well, right? 's making you say stupid stuff."

"Oh... right. Yeah, that's... that's probably it."

"Yeah, so... go head on up to the on-call room." Kuzuryu stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants, then turned back around.

Hinata barely had any time to take in his facial expression before Kuzuryu was leaning forward and placing his lips softly upon Hinata's forehead.

"There." Kuzuryu stood up straight again, trying to look smug but not quite managing through the obvious embarrassment. "A good night kiss before the baby goes to sleep. So who's being treated like a kid now, huh?"

Despite his haughty façade, Kuzuryu quickly made his exit, stepping back outside before Hinata could formulate a response.

Feeling his own face growing warm, Hinata rubbed at his forehead where Kuzuryu had kissed him.

He wasn't sure he'd be able to get to sleep now even if he tried.

* * *

 **Notes:** Not sure if I'll be able to post something tomorrow; it's gonna be a loooong day, between voting as soon as the polls open up before working for nine hours and then the watch party/probably-victory-party with our neighbor/family friend who's running for congress, haha. But I'll try!

PS please exercise your right to vote thank you


	6. Wearing each other's clothes (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Hogwarts AU (the same as my other Hogwarts AU fics, where Hinata is a muggle-born Slytherin and Kuzuryu is a pureblood Hufflepuff). Since I couldn't find a way to mention it in the story, this takes place at the beginning of summer holidays between their fifth and sixth years!

And some quick headcanon for this universe that I don't think I've clarified in any posted fics yet: the Naegi siblings (Hinata's cousins) are half-bloods with a Muggle mother (Hinata's mother's sister). Just so you know~!

* * *

 **Day 6: Wearing each other's clothes**

"Uh, no," Hajime said flatly. He was honestly rather proud that he managed to keep his voice so level; he had nearly dropped the granola bars he had grabbed for breakfast in shock when he walked out of the kitchen and saw Fuyuhiko. "We are not walking outside with you dressed like that."

"Why the hell not?!" the smaller boy protested. "You told me to wear Muggle clothes. I did my research and these are fucking Muggle clothes!"

Hajime sighed, running a hand down his face; Fuyuhiko was staying over for a few days and had asked Hajime to "take me around and we can do some Muggle shit." Hajime wasn't sure exactly _what_ counted as "Muggle shit"—the beach? The football stadium? The fudge shop was a must, but eating sweets wasn't weren't exactly a Muggle-exclusive activity. Regardless, though, if they were going to be wandering around Brighton and Hove it was absolutely necessary that Fuyuhiko dressed like a normal Muggle.

He looked at Fuyuhiko again, just to be certain that what he was seeing was real. The Hufflepuff was wearing a beige, three-quarter-length pullover sweater on top of what looked to be three layers of shirts of varying lengths—or was one of them a skirt? Oh god, _was Fuyuhiko wearing a pleated skirt over those navy knee-length shorts?_ And while at first glance Hajime had thought Fuyuhiko was wearing gray socks with sandals, he now saw that they were actually _leg warmers_ , which might be even _worse_.

But gosh, there was something about the disaster of an ensemble that was also just so _cute_.

"Just..." Hajime rubbed his temples in frustration. "Exactly what Muggle resource did you consult to put that outfit together?"

"You know, that... whatchamacallit. Milan Fashion Week or whatever."

Oh. "That's... Fuyuhiko, normal Muggles don't actually _wear_ the outfits they have at fashion shows like that."

"The fuck? What's the point of dumb shit like that?!"

Hajime didn't have an answer, but he thought he might be able to salvage something from what Fuyuhiko was wearing. "It doesn't matter, just... you don't need all those shirts. Take a few off. The leg warmers, too."

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that _none_ of the shirts he was wearing would pass without garnering confused stares. The top shirt had a collar peppered with bizarre studs, and the bottom shirt, while thankfully not a skirt, was long and frilly enough to be mistaken as a woman's sundress. The middle shirt was actually pretty decent in terms of style, but the dusty brown color just didn't look right with the shorts.

(And, if Hajime was being completely honest, the color didn't do Fuyuhiko justice either.)

"So..." Hajime looked at the shirts thoughtfully as Fuyuhiko stood, pouting, in his almost-a-sundress. "You know what? I'll just lend you something of mine. I think Mum kept some stuff that should fit, hold on."

He sprinted up to his bedroom and opened the closet, quickly locating a box of clothes his mother had packed away. After some digging, he found a Seagulls graphic tee and a pair of khaki cargo shorts that seemed to be the right size.

"Here we go," he announced as he went back downstairs. "I got you some different shorts, too, if you want them."

Fuyuhiko accepted the clothing, frowning, then peered up at the other boy suspiciously. "Exactly how old were you when you wore this stuff?"

Hajime sucked in a breath; he knew that the short-tempered Hufflepuff would throw a fit if he found out how old Hajime had been when those clothes had last fit him. Maybe if he tried to skirt the issue with some Muggle terminology... "I... think I wore that when I was in year 4?"

Fuyuhiko's glare darkened. "I don't know what the fuck age that's supposed to be, but that just means it was before we went to Hogwarts, huh?! Like _hell_ I'm wearing your baby clothes!"

"Those aren't— how tall of a kid do you think I was?! I wore them when I was _ten_!"

"So you _did_ wear these when you are were a little kid! And you think these clothes suit me?! Lend me something you wear _now_ , asshole!"

Hajime sighed, exasperated. "Fuyuhiko, they won't... they won't fit..."

"Then call Makoto's dad over and have him hex them to fit me!"

"I'm not calling my uncle away to from work just to legally hex my clothes!"

"Well I'm not wearing kiddy hand-me-downs!"

In the end, they managed to come to a compromise: Fuyuhiko agreed to wear the shorts and even the graphic tee, but only after Hajime found one of Makoto's forgotten hoodies in the clean laundry pile.

Which was probably just as well—seeing Fuyuhiko wearing his old clothes, for just the few seconds before being obscured by the hoodie, did some weird things to Hajime's stomach.

Maybe he had actually dodged a bullet.

* * *

 **Notes:** Okay, so they're not wearing _each other's_ clothes, but I couldn't think of any way for this that to be possible without something like bodyswapping—and I've already written that fic! (It's "Honey Brew" if you're curious.)


	7. Cosplaying (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Yeah... I've now fallen a day behind because I was so exhausted yesterday, I thought it would be better to get the sleep I needed instead of forcing myself to finish this up. But I should be able to catch up again over the weekend, at the latest!

This one takes place sometime between SDR2 and DR3. And it's Kuzuhina, of course!

* * *

 **Day 7: Cosplaying**

"I have always wanted to have a costume party with friends, you know!" Sonia gushed as she fiddled with her construction paper witch hat. "And since it's Halloween, this is the perfect opportunity!"

"Didn't we already do this at Hope's Peak, though?" Kuzuryu sat down heavily on the bench next to Hinata, looking with disdain at his bandaged arms. "I kind of feel like we did."

"Yeah," Owari agreed. "I mean, I _think_ I kinda almost remember something like that...?"

"Well, we have all forgotten it," the princess pointed out. "And besides, this time we have Hinata-san with us! Of course, it would be even better if Tanaka-san and the others were here as well..."

Seeing the way her face fell just slightly, Hinata's fingers itched, and not just because of the unfamiliar gloves he was wearing. He was supposed to be at his computer working on the psychodive program, not hanging out at the hotel restaurant watching Sonia make the last preparations for a Halloween party. "Next year," he said reassuringly. "We can all celebrate together next year."

A soft smile returned to Sonia's face, and she began flitting about the room again. "Yes, next year for sure! And I'm sure we'll have better access to costume supplies next year as well!"

Life on Jabberwock Island as they waited for their classmates to awaken was largely uneventful, but that didn't mean there was a lack of anything to do; Hinata's work on the restoring the comatose students aside, they were constantly kept busy with foraging for resources, cleaning up ruined buildings to be mostly habitable as needed, and simply keeping themselves fed and healthy. So they hadn't really considered putting aside time for other activities until Sonia suggested a Halloween party—and it seemed to be a refreshing change of pace, so all five of them eventually agreed.

Unfortunately, their "costumes" were limited to whatever meager supplies they could spare on entertainment and any raw materials they could collect on the islands. Thus, Sonia's witch costume consisted of a paper hat and a dark, tattered curtain draped across her shoulders like a cape; Souda, wrapped up in an emergency blanket with bolts taped haphazardly to his skin, was meant to be a some sort of robot; and Hinata... honestly didn't want to know _what_ sort of creature Owari had felled to supply the fur for her cavewoman outfit and his own werewolf costume.

"Well, I think you did a great job on our costumes, Sonia-san!" Souda insisted, even as he had to reattach a bolt that had fallen off his arm.

"I'm pretty sure Tsumiki's gonna be pissed that you wasted all these bandages when she wakes up, though," Kuzuryu said, re-wrapping his leg where his mummy costume was coming undone. He was wrapped from head to toe, with particular attention given to covering his right eye, but since none of them were particularly skilled at more than the barest of first aid, the bandages were constantly coming loose and trailing to the floor.

Well, honestly, Hinata probably _did_ have the talent needed to wrap bandages more securely, if he let himself do what his body felt was right without thinking too much, but that didn't seem to be possible. His mind kept going elsewhere whenever he saw those flashes of skin from between unwound bandages, and exactly what was Kuruzryu _wearing_ under there? It was definitely much less than he usually wore...

He took a deep breath and turned away, deciding that he suddenly found the grain of the hardwood floor to be _very_ interesting indeed. "So what sort of activities do you have planned, anyway?" he asked.

"You mean besides the food?" Owari asked, her mouth stuffed with some sort of fruit pastries that Sonia had set out.

"Hey!" Souda jumped up and rushed over. "Leave some of Sonia-san's homemade treats for me— us!"

Hinata watched idly as a small scuffle broke out over the food, and was amused to see Kuzuryu slowly get up and make his way over, trying not to make it too obvious that he was interested in the sweets, too.

His bandages were trailing on the floor again. Hinata's eyes locked onto the yakuza's bare Achilles' tendon for a moment before he tore his gaze away.

"Well, once everyone is done with the snacks..." Sonia rummaged through a duffel bag she had brought and pulled out a board covered in handwritten letters. "I thought it would be uber fun to try using a Ouija board, so I made us one!"

The others froze in place, save for Owari, who continued to devour the pastries.

"A... Ouija board?" Kuzuryu repeated, clearly trying not to let his voice waver. "Isn't that that thing that's supposed to summon demons and shit?"

"No— no, there's no way that'll happen!" Souda argued, even as he trembled wildly with tears forming in his eyes. "Nothing made by Sonia-san would ever summon anything as evil as demons! She blesses anything she touches!"

"It might summon demons," Sonia admitted, ignoring Souda's reverent praise. "But that usually happens if a spirit is asked to prove themselves by physically controlling something in our realm. If we are careful not to do that, we should be able to avoid opening a portal to Hell!"

"A portal to Hell," Souda repeated weakly.

"I'm... pretty sure demons don't actually exist, guys," Hinata offered.

Kuzuryu huffed, his tough façade undermined by the peach jam smeared at the corner of his lips. "Whether they exist or not, they're _nothing_ compared to what humans are capable of. So I say bring it on!"

Despite his claims, Hinata noticed that the yakuza was trembling just slightly. He got up and slowly walked over to put a placating hand on Kuzuryu's shoulder. "You know what, I think maybe—"

"D-don't touch me, dumbass!"

Hinata wasn't sure exactly what happened in the next moment, but he felt his foot suddenly being pulled out from under him as Kuzuryu jerked away from his touch, which had him knocked off-balance and tumbling forward.

When he blinked his eyes open again, he was kneeling on all fours, his hands and knees stinging where he had fallen—

Oh. Right on top of Kuzuryu. Hinata's breath froze in his throat.

"Woo-hoo!" Owari's voice cut through the stunned silence. "Go get 'im, Hinata! You're a wolf out for prey, all right!"

Kuzuryu flushed beet red. "Get off of me!" he growled, pushing Hinata aside and pulling himself back into a sitting position. The bandage wrapping his left leg had completely unraveled all the way up to his knee—Hinata must have inadvertently stepped on the trailing end when he approached, which would have been what had tugged him off-balance when Kuzuryu moved.

But wow, Kuzuryu's _entire lower leg_ was bare. Was he wearing _any_ actual clothes at all?

Hinata shook his head briskly to clear his head of those thoughts, and he didn't bother to fix the werewolf ears when they were knocked off. "You know what, I... think I'm gonna head back to work on the program after all," he said, pushing himself to his feet. "You guys have fun without me, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Sonia asked, clutching the Ouija board to her chest. "We do not have to risk opening a portal to Hell if that's the problem."

"I think you probably shouldn't be risking that anyway." Hinata gave a strained grin over his shoulder. "Nah, it's just that I keep... getting caught up in my thoughts. Because I want to keep working on the program. Yeah, that. So, uh... I'll see you all tomorrow!"

Without giving them a chance to try calling him back, Hinata dashed out the door and down the exterior stairway, only stopping at the bottom to catch his breath and let his heart settle, the ocean breeze cool against his flushed cheeks.

When she woke up, Pekoyama was going to _kill him_.

* * *

 **Notes:** why u so thirsty hinata calm down


	8. Shopping (naegami)

**Notes:** I couldn't think of anything for kuzuhina without plagiarizing NachtGraves' Errant Errands-verse so I'm writing Naegami instead lmao

Pre-Tragedy!

* * *

 **Day 8: Shopping**

Naegi knew that there was no way their class' Secret Santa exchange would go off without a hitch. They were just such a colorful group of kids, with such varied personalities, that there were bound to be road bumps _somewhere_ along the way; Ishimaru was probably going to slip up and loudly admit his recipient within the first few days, and whoever was getting a present from Hagakure was probably going to end up with an OOPArt pulled from the depths of his jacket pockets at the last minute.

Still, Naegi hadn't expected the first issue to arise immediately after they all received their assignments at the end of afternoon homeroom.

"Naegi," Togami commanded, marching directly to his desk. "Tell me what to buy Ikusaba. You're close with her, correct?"

Naegi gaped up at him, sparing a brief glance towards the soldier in question—she was chatting with her sister, and hadn't seemed to take notice of them, but she _always_ had her guard up, there was _no way_ she hadn't heard that.

"Togami-kun," Naegi choked out, grabbing the heir's sleeve as he stood. "Come with me for a second."

He pulled them both into the hallway, and after firmly shutting the door behind them, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Well?" Togami probed.

Naegi rubbed his forehead. "First of all, this is _Secret_ Santa. You're not supposed to be giving yourself away where she can hear!"

"Ridiculous," Togami scoffed. "There's no point to all this secrecy in the first place."

"But that's just how it is!" Naegi sighed. "Just go along with it, please?"

Togami raised an eyebrow, but gave no confirmation nor denial. "So will you tell me what to buy for her or not?"

"I'm not... going to _tell_ you," Naegi said, trying not to squirm under the other boy's gaze. "I mean, part of this is that you have to figure out for yourself what the best gift is for the person, even if you don't know them as well as others. But, um..." He pulled out his own slip of paper, looking at the name of his recipient written in large, loopy handwriting. "Well, I have to buy something for Enoshima-san, so maybe we could go shopping for them together? I mean, they don't like _all_ the same things, of course, but..." He floundered a bit, flustered. "If you really do need pointers, you can bounce ideas off me while we're at the store."

Togami sniffed derisively. "I'm not sure you could afford the stores I patronize."

"Where are you— wait, no!" Naegi waved his hands in front of him. "Togami-kun, we discussed this! We're all supposed to work with a budget of three thousand yen; no gifts more expensive than that!" With a sigh, he continued, "So let's just go to the department store, okay? We're bound to find something good in budget there!"

"...If those are the conditions for your help, then I suppose I have no choice," Togami said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Help, huh?" Naegi smiled up at him cheekily as they headed back into the classroom to grab their bags. "Imagine, the great Byakuya Togami needing to ask someone for _help_!"

"Silence." Togami threw his bag over his shoulder and turned to Naegi, his mouth pulled into a thin, stern line. "Lead the way to this department store, _now_."

* * *

"Hmm..." For a long minute, Naegi stared at the display of makeup and other cosmetics, humming thoughtfully. Finally, he looked up at Togami with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I can't actually tell which of these are good. I'm guessing you can't either?"

"It's... not within my area of expertise," Togami admitted.

Chuckling, Naegi pushed himself away from the counter. "Enoshima-san is probably really picky about makeup, anyway. It's just that Ikusaba-san has mentioned she's started getting interested in cosmetics, so I thought this might be a way to get both gifts done at once... Sorry."

Togami shook his head and followed Naegi as they started for another section of the store. "Such an effortless gift wouldn't be worth the Togami name anyway."

"Haha, right..." _Weren't you the one demanding I_ tell _you what to buy?_ Naegi bit back his retort and focused instead on scanning the aisles as they turned a corner towards the toy section. "Oh! Do you think I should get Enoshima-san a teddy bear? I've noticed her doodling bears on her notes lately, so she must like them..."

Behind him, Togami made a thoughtful sound. "Are you so perceptive with all of our classmates?"

Naegi shrugged as he scoured the selection of stuffed animals. "I mean, we're all friends, right? Of course I'll pay attention to the things they like. Oh, this one is holding a little baby bear, how cute!" He picked it up and held hugged it to his chest. "And it's really soft, too. Yeah, I'll get Enoshima-san this one!"

"In that case, what would you get for me?"

Naegi spun around to face Togami, who frowned and looked off to the side. "Sorry, what?"

Togami pushed his glasses up his nose and cleared his throat. "If you really do take notice of your classmates so much, what do you think _I_ would want as a gift?"

"Oh..." Naegi looked downward in thought, the bear's plush tickling the tip of his nose. "I mean, you'd definitely be hard to shop for, especially for someone on a budget. I feel like you'd have pretty expensive tastes, _and_ there's nothing stopping you from immediately buying anything you want for yourself, either. But..." He looked up again, grinning nervously. "You like coffee, right? You drink it every morning at breakfast. So maybe I'd get you a bag of nice coffee beans—and hopefully it'd be nice enough."

Togami glared down at him for a moment, and just as Naegi was beginning to notice a pinkish tint high on the taller boy's cheeks, he turned away. "Hn. Not bad."

The heir began walking away, and Naegi quickly followed after before he could fall behind. "'Not bad'? Did I answer correctly, then?"

"Your answer was... satisfactory," Togami said. "Just barely a passing grade. You realize that I wouldn't accept just any coffee."

"Well, yeah, that's why I said—" Naegi cut himself off as Togami stopped short. Just barely avoiding a collision with his back, Naegi looked up at him curiously. "Togami-kun?"

Togami was staring at the bags and luggage section, a hand placed on his chin thoughtfully. Without a word, he strode down an aisle, and Naegi followed after.

"Did you think of something?" he asked as Togami took a turn down an adjacent aisle. "You have an idea of what to get for Ikusaba-san?"

"Yes, if I can just find— there we are." He stopped in front of an assortment of small pouches.

Naegi checked the display sign. "A makeup bag case?"

"You mentioned that she's started to be interested in cosmetics, correct?" Togami looked over the selection, picking out a jet-black rectangular clutch, and then a triangular navy blue pouch with gold trimmings. "We might not know what sort of makeup she'll prefer, but she should at least appreciate something to keep it in." Apparently deciding on the blue one, he held it up for Naegi's approval. "Well? Will she like it?"

Naegi gaped for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah... it's very handsome! I think it suits her."

Looking just the tiniest bit pleased with himself, Togami placed put the black bag back on the shelf and turned on his heel. "Now that that's over with, there's one more section I'd like to stop by."

The final stop, it turned out, was the seasonal section filled from end to end with Christmas decorations and holiday trimmings. Togami quickly located a wall display of European-made ornaments and charms and perused the selection.

"Are you going to get her a charm for the bag, too?" Naegi asked. "That should be cute... but can you stay in budget, then?"

"Shush, Naegi," Togami hissed. "Don't question me." His hand paused before the display before reaching forward and picking out a small stuffed pig hanging from a keyring.

"A pig?" Naegi frowned. "Are you sure about that? She might think you're saying she's fat or something."

Togami gave him a withering look and wrapped his hand fully around the keychain, as if to say, _yes, I_ am _buying this, and how_ dare _you_. "Naegi, why don't you go check out with your purchase," he said icily. "I'll meet you back at the front."

 _Well, when you say it_ that _way..._ Feeling entirely like a scolded child, Naegi left Togami and headed for the registers at the front of the store. He had to admit once he got there, though, that the suggestion did make sense; the register lines were long with holiday shoppers, so it _was_ a good idea to start waiting in line as soon as possible.

Ten minutes later, Naegi left the registers with the teddy bear safely in a shopping bag, and he was surprised to see Togami already waiting for him at the exit. "What? How did you beat me?"

Togami scoffed. "I'm Byakuya Togami."

He _really_ hoped Togami hadn't used that as an excuse to cut in line.

"Here," Togami said before Naegi could question him on the matter. He pulled the pig keychain out of his shopping bag and held it out. "Take this in return for your assistance today."

"Oh..." Naegi almost wanted to refuse—he didn't _need_ a gift in return for helping out a friend—but he noticed that faint blush had returned to Togami's cheekbones again. If offering a gift was something the other boy was struggling with, well, it just didn't seem right to reject his efforts. "Thank you," he said, taking the small stuffed pig.

Looking at it closely, it _was_ a pretty cute keychain—a red velvet ribbon was tied around the pig's neck, and there was a little four-leaf clover appliquéd onto its rump. Naegi rubbed the metal button in the pig's ear thoughtfully; it was definitely a nice gift, but... "Um, can I ask why you got me a pig?"

Togami sniffed derisively. "It's a Glüksschwein."

"A glu... glyu..." Naegi struggled to navigate his tongue around the unfamiliar sounds. "A what?"

Togami gave a long sigh, as if it were Naegi's fault for not being completely fluent in... English? Was it an English word? "A Glüksschwein. It's a German good luck pig."

"Oh..." Slowly processing the words, Naegi felt his face beginning to heat up. "Oh... oh! Um, thank you!" He smiled brightly up at Togami. "That's actually a really thoughtful gift, Togami-kun!"

"Naturally," Togami muttered, averting his gaze. "And I expect you to keep quiet about all this, too."

"Right, of course!" Naegi safely stowed the keychain away in his bag before following Togami out the doors to head back to campus, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

* * *

 **Notes:** To my knowledge, there is no such Steiff keychain, but it probably cost like two hundred dollars and Naegi was probably very put out when he found out lmao


	9. Hanging out with friends (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Pre-Tragedy, Kuzu...hina? Kuzuhina? Does this count as kuzuhina?

It's been ages since I've rewatched DR3 so apologies if I got Hinata's general attitude wrong, but I don't think I'm... too far off...

* * *

 **Day 9: Hanging out with friends**

Hinata didn't often go to the arcade without Nanami, but she had recently gotten him hooked on the new fighting game there—even though he could barely manage to _touch_ her when they played. The next time he they played, he wanted to be able to... maybe not win, not even give her a run for her money, but he wanted to have a _chance_ , goddammit.

He may not have a talent, but no one could ever say that he was without ambition.

That was how he ended up alone at the arcade, his black school blazer draped over the back of his seat and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he furiously punched at the buttons. He was going doing fairly well against the computer character, winning pretty consistently. Just as he was thinking that it might be time to set the CPU to a higher difficulty, he heard voices approaching from his periphery.

"Oh, Hinata-kun!"

He looked up in surprise, sparing just the briefest of moments to pause the game. "Nanami?" he said, and he wondered just why he had been surprised in the first place—she was the Ultimate Gamer, of _course_ she visited the arcade on her own time.

Why would he think he was special enough for her to only go to the arcade with him?

"Oh, you're playing it?" Nanami bobbed on her heels excitedly as she looked at his game screen. "I knew you'd enjoy it! Isn't it addicting? The level curve is really smooth in particular, so even casual players won't encounter any frustrating difficulty spikes..."

As she chattered about the merits of the game, Hinata glanced over her shoulder, taking note of the other people with her. "Um, are these your classmates...?" He asked, unnecessarily. Of course he recognized the students from the Main Course.

"Oh... right," Nanami said, taking on a more disinterested tone as the topic steered away from video games, though her eyes kept their affectionate shine. "I brought a few of my classmates with me along today! Everyone, this is Hajime Hinata-kun from the Reserve Course, and Hinata-kun, this is..."

Hinata let his mind wander a bit as Nanami introduced her friends, and he bit the inside of his cheek as he tried not to let envy consume him. He already recognized all of them, of course; Mioda, Saionji, Pekoyama... he definitely recognized Koizumi, who he'd seen stop by his own classroom from time to time...

"...and this is Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu."

Hinata was pulled back to full attention at that name, and he focused on the small yakuza. "Oh, um... nice to meet you all," he greeted, and Mioda apparently took that as permission to jump all over him and ask nonsensical questions. Hinata was aware of the other students looking him over curiously—not unkindly, but it was still a bit off-putting—but he kept his gaze on Kuzuryu and said, "Um, you're Natsumi Kuzuryu's brother, right? She just transferred into my class."

Hinata saw Koizumi flinch a bit out of the corner of his eye, but Kuzuryu just frowned and crossed his arms. "Really? I wouldn't believe a thing she says about me if I were you."

Laughing nervously, Hinata said, "Um, well she does seem to have a... combative personality."

"That's putting it lightly," Kuzuryu grumbled.

"This is great, though," Nanami cut in, apparently paying no heed to the direction of the conversation. "With Hinata-kun here, we can all play in a knockout tournament with just one bye."

"Wait, me?" Hinata pointed to himself. "Uh, I mean, I don't want to intrude..."

"What's there to intrude on?" Mioda cackled. "Come on and play with us, Hajime-chan!"

"I mean, if you're friends with Chiaki-chan," Koizumi added, glancing at the class representative, "I don't see any reason we should chase you off."

Saionji snickered. "Unless you're _chicken_!"

Hinata backed up nervously; somehow, it was even more overwhelming with them all inviting him to stay. He wasn't in the Main Course, and he didn't have a talent. He couldn't hang out with all of them like they were his friends.

In the worst case, he would end up hurting himself by befriending people he could never stand alongside as equals.

"I... actually have something I need to do right now," he lied, picking up his schoolbag and blazer. "So I really should be going. I hope you guys have fun, though! And I'll see you later, Nanami!"

He caught sight of Kuzuryu's piercing golden gaze, tripping him up for just an instant as he made his escape, but he managed to pull himself away and to the exit.

He took a deep breath as he reached stepped outside, feeling suffocated by the humid July air and his own insecurities.

Hinata couldn't afford to befriend any more Main Course students. They were friendly, and intriguing, but he _couldn't_.

He couldn't create more reasons for his emotions to influence him. If he was going to agree to the project, it would be on his own terms.

* * *

 **Notes:** This is why I shouldn't write pre-Tragedy class 77, Hinata's just such a sadsack it's no fun.

And this was definitely _not_ "hanging out with friends" jfc


	10. With animal ears (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** AU where I completely disregard everything in 2.5 and the strategy to revive the comatose students is instead putting them into Island Mode as a sort of group therapy but the five survivors are aware it's a simulation, and also it's pre-established kuzuhina.

* * *

 **Day 10: With animal ears**

"This is the weirdest glitch you've encountered yet."

"Shh." Hinata nudged Kuzuryu's knee under the breakfast table. "They all seem to think it's normal, so keep quiet. I'll log out tonight and see if I can fix it when everyone's asleep."

"We have to live with this _all day_?!"

"It's not that bad, is it?" Hinata felt his ears twitch inquisitively—which was a strange sensation, to be sure, but it wasn't painful or anything. "There are way worse things that could have happened."

"I have _cat ears_ , Hinata!"

Indeed he did—big buff tabby ears turned back in an obvious show of annoyance. They were adorable and fit Kuzuryu perfectly (though maybe Scottish Fold ears would have made it even better), but Hinata wouldn't dare to say so out loud.

"Are you sure that they haven't noticed?"

Hinata surveyed the scene at the restaurant, making use of the enhanced hearing abilities afforded him by his new ears (they were either the ears of a wolf or some sort of dog—the jury was still out on that one). He was sure that his fellow survivors noticed the irregularity—aside from him and Kuzuryu, Sonia was occasionally reaching up to touch her new rabbit ears with a worried sigh, and Souda had been a total wreck that morning, sobbing loudly and absolutely refusing to emerge from his cottage or even show his face. He wasn't so sure about Owari—if she had noticed her monkey ears, she was certainly taking it in stride. Everyone else, though, was milling about and chatting as if nothing had happened, uncaring of their new body parts. "I mean... I feel like Tanaka would at least have something to say about it if they did."

"Guess you've got a point."

Hinata hummed again, glancing at his boyfriend before before reaching over and placing a hand against the shell of his ear.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"Just petting them. They're really soft."

Kuzuryu's mouth flapped noiselessly, his brows knitted in an angry scowl, before he turned away in an attempt to hide his growing blush. "Dumbass. Whatever."

Hinata chuckled, continuing to pet Kuzuryu's ears and head—he hadn't been told _not to_ , which with Kuzuryu was as much permission as anything. He reveled in the way the fine fur on his ears seamlessly transitioned into his coarser hair.

"I can't decide if it's a good thing this happened on a break day or not," Hinata mused aloud.

"What are you talking about?" Kuzuryu muttered, still facing away. "Of course it's better that it's the only shit we have to worry about today."

"Well, yeah," Hinata agreed. "But having animal ears might actually be better for finding materials, you know? We might be able to locate things by sound and stuff like that."

Kuzuryu grunted in acknowledgement and nuzzled against Hinata's hand almost imperceptibly. Hinata wasn't sure if he was meant to notice that, or if Kuzuryu even noticed himself.

"Maybe I'll keep the ears around for tomorrow and see how it helps, then."

"You better fucking _not_."

Hinata chuckled lightly. "All right, all right. If it bothers you so much, I'll log out after breakfast and see what I can do. But you'll need to cover for me if anyone asks where I am, all right?"

He scratched lightly at the base of Kuzuryu's ear, and was startled when Kuzuryu answered with a _moan_.

His hand stilled and his ears pricked forward, alert. "Uh... Kuzuryu?"

Kuzuryu finally slowly turned towards him, his face burning red. "You... better fucking _not_ log out after this," he said lowly, his breath erratic.

"Oh..." Hinata blinked owlishly, pulling his hand away back slightly before placing it back, unsure of what would be the right course of action at this point. "Um, Kuzuryu, did I... are you...?"

Kuzuryu brought himself closer, trembling. "You wanna know what you did, huh?" He shot a hand up to place upon Hinata's own furry canine ears, which was really just startling and a bit uncomfortable, so Hinata had no idea what he was getting at until he started stroking and—

Oh. Oh _wow_ , that felt _good_. His ears twitched, causing Kuzuryu's fingers to land on a different spot that felt even _better_ , and Hinata felt his stomach do a flip from the stimulation.

"I— okay," Hinata gasped, pulling away so he could gather his thoughts again. Kuzuryu was incredibly sensitive even under normal circumstances—if just a few seconds of getting his ears pet had that sort of effect on Hinata, what sort of state was Kuzuryu in after several _minutes_? "So, um, do you... what do you want me to...?"

Kuzuryu pulled himself flush against Hinata's side—and yes, Hinata could _clearly_ feel confirmation of what was happening now—and whispered into his ear. "You're using those stupid trip tickets on _me_ today," he hissed. "And you're going to take care of _this_ before you even _think_ of leaving me in this program."

Hinata gulped, heat rising into his face and pooling in his abdomen. "Uh, right. Okay, no problem." He glanced briefly at their half-eaten breakfasts before deciding there were more pressing matters. "Let's get going now, then."

* * *

 **Notes:** Souda had donkey ears.


	11. Making out (kamukuzu)

**Notes:** Oh my goooooood this one gave me so much trouble. I knew it would, so I actually started working on it a few days before it was supposed to go up, but I... still had to delay it... I'm sorry.

Kamukuzu taking place during the Tragedy!

(By the way, I wrote a Pokemon ship for day 11, so that's been posted elsewhere.)

* * *

 **Day 12: Making out**

Kamukura was an observer.

Regardless of whatever Junko Enoshima expected of him, he would be nothing more than an observer. His involvement in her plan wasn't unlike spectating a game of chess—he watched to see what would happen, but it wasn't his place to move any pieces, be they black or white.

So far, as the world burned around him, events had progressed largely as Junko Enoshima had claimed they would: despair was chaotic and all-encompassing. However, that didn't mean it wasn't boring. Despair, thus far, had simply overwhelmed with devastating destruction. It wasn't beyond prediction at all.

Hope, on the other hand, hadn't managed to make enough of a showing to for him to judge. Perhaps it had been crushed too soundly before it even had a chance.

Kamukura slowed to a stop as he passed a bundle of withered trees to see the National Diet Building emerge from behind the branches, dyed the color of sunset under the crimson sky. A symbol of the nation's hope, before society had come crumbling down.

He felt a rare pang of curiosity at the edge of his consciousness. The outer gates had obviously been compromised, as they hung open, corroded and broken, but besides that he wondered how such a symbol of hope had fared in the face of despair.

He walked towards the building and pulled the central doors open without much effort; it had been barricaded at one point, it seemed, but the locks and boards had been cleanly cut through, as if through butter rather bronze.

Was that really all the resistance hope could manage? He was still willing to consider otherwise, but it certainly wasn't very promising.

The long hallways of the building were quiet and devoid of life. The only sound was the click of Kamukura's shoes upon the marble floor echoing into the far depths of the corridors.

He continued through the hallways, ignoring the uninteresting paintings and cracked stained glass, slowing only when his footfalls dulled, then turned into light splashes of liquid.

Kamukura sighed as he looked down at the large puddle of blood just beginning to coagulate at the edges. How boring.

That was how it always was; if not complete destruction of a building, all living beings found inside the residents were, at the very least, completely massacred.

He walked a few meters further, the pool of blood deepening, to come across a large door hanging ajar. He turned inside the room and immediately intercepted a sword swinging towards his neck, catching the silver blade between two fingers.

"Stand down, Peko."

Kamukura regarded the woman wielding the sword, evenly meeting her crimson gaze with his own, before she retreated, sheathing her sword. She clearly wasn't any normal citizen who had fallen to despair—this had to be Peko Pekoyama, the Ultimate Swordswoman. One of Kamukura's "classmates."

He hadn't planned on meeting one so soon.

He boredly swept his gaze across the room—the Chamber of the House of Councillors, walls and carpet stained with blood, lifeless bodies of Diet members slumped over desks and between chairs. And deep within the chamber, lounging across the Emperor's throne, was the man who must have issued the order to Pekoyama.

Another one of his classmates—Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, the Ultimate Yakuza.

"Well, shit." The blond-haired man regarded Kamukura across the chamber, meeting him with a grin and unfocused golden eyes. "You're not a member of the Diet. You're here to bear witness to our reclamation of this country, then?"

Kamukura slowly walked down the slanted floor towards stairs to the center, maintaining eye contact with Kuzuryu the entire way. There was nothing interesting about seeing the effects of boundless despair in an individual. He'd already seen it countless times in others, and this shouldn't be anything new. However, staking claim to an entire country was... unique, to be sure. Kamukura leaned back against the front row of desks, arms crossed. How unpredictable could Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu be—a beacon of hope fallen to despair, having usurped a nation's hope in the name of despair?

Kuzuryu stood up from the throne, an unsteady edge to his gangster's swagger as he descended the scarlet steps and leapt over the partition to the chamber floor. He stalked towards Kamukura, taking a moment to wave a dismissive hand towards the back of the chamber before curiously peering up through the dark curtain of his hair. "I see. You're one of us, aren't you?"

Kamukura didn't answer, noting the sound of Pekoyama's retreating footfalls as he quietly studied the smaller man's movements.

Humming thoughtfully, Kuzuryu took a step back and turned on his heel, spreading his arms to gesture at the entire room. "Look. Do you see? This was once a room full of corruption, of nepotism and empty promises and self-gain, and finally the slate has been wiped clean. The country is ours to rebuild."

"You killed those who supplied the framework of this nation," Kamukura said matter-of-factly.

"Fuck no. We don't kill." Kuzuryu glanced over his shoulder back at him, madness gleaming in his eyes. "We cleanse."

Kamukura couldn't think of much else more boring than arguing semantics.

"Killing implies the destruction of a living human, of a being that houses a soul," Kuzuryu continued regardless, unprompted. "That isn't what happened here. All the damn bastards we found in this building had already sold their souls for selfish gain."

"I see."

Kuzuryu paused, turned back to Kamukura, and took the few steps remaining before they stood just inches apart, toe-to-toe.

"You really piss me off." He reached up, grabbed a handful of hair on each side of Kamakura's face, and tugged downwards. "You could stand to show a bit more interest in the new world order we've created."

Kamukura made no move to shake him off. "How boring. The creation of a new society requires more than simply killing off the previous one."

Oddly, Kuzuryu took that opportunity to grin. "You know, I think I like it better when you stay fuckin' quiet." He jerked downward again, tightening his hold on Kamukura's hair as he crushed their lips together.

It was true that despair caused people to act erratically and illogically; there simply was no reason, in that situation, for Kuzuryu to have wanted to kiss Kamukura, and Kamukura certainly had no interest in reciprocating, either. Even exerting the minimal effort needed to push the smaller man away would have been too much of a bother, though, so he stayed still, analyzing this strange manifestation of despair. He committed to memory the feel of Kuzuryu's fingers against his scalp, carding through his hair and yanking him closer; the sensation of Kuzuryu's tongue and lips and teeth working against Kamukura's own.

And he couldn't help but be a little bit intrigued to feel his own body naturally beginning to respond to Kuzuryu's.

Kamukura wasn't without a sex drive; usually, though, it remained buried and forgotten under all of the talents that he had been blessed with. It was no surprise, however, that it would come floating to the surface with a man who met society's criteria for "cute" kissing him, biting him, pushing him back onto the desk and leaving pale red handprints on his shirt, then climbing up and straddling Kamukura's lap before continuing.

Kamukura placed a steadying hand on Kuzuryu's hip and, feeling inclined to return Kuzuryu's kisses, let himself indulge in that desire. Kuzuryu answered with a moan and a swipe of his tongue across Kamukura's, and Kamukura pulled back a bit, surprised by the sensation.

 _Surprise..._ yes, that was surprise. But since it had already happened once, it likely wouldn't happen again. How boring.

Kuzuryu moved in again, but Kamukura dodged, instead dipping his head to trail teeth and tongue along Kuzuryu's jaw. No, that wasn't any good; the tangy taste of blood and sweat only had Kamukura analyzing the unsanitary conditions, pondering the how human beings could engage in such activities without caring about the transmission of viruses and bacteria.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu was no longer of any interest to him.

The Ultimate Yakuza persisted for a moment longer, biting and sucking at the base of Kamukura's earlobe, undoubtedly leaving a mark, before pulling back, a trail of saliva snapping as he pushed himself backwards onto the chamber floor again. "You can leave," he said, turning towards the throne. "I'm bored of you now."

Kamukura could have said the exact same thing—though rather than being due to the whimsy of despair as in Kuzuryu's case, it was because Kamukura had fully evaluated every possibility the man had to offer. There was no point in staying—Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu was completely and utterly boring.

Without another word, Kamukura left the chamber and made for the exit, sparing not even the barest consideration for Peko Pekoyama as he passed her in the hall.

As he walked back towards what remained of the ruined road, he put his hand in his pocket and ran a finger along the hairpin he still carried with him. There was no longer anything interesting about the Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu who had fallen to despair, but Kamukura wondered, idly, what he had been like when full of hope. Once he had the materials to set his plan in motion, would Kuzuryu act according to his predictions, or would was there any possibility of another surprise?

It was almost a shame that Kamukura wouldn't be able to see for himself.

* * *

 **Notes:** I've always wanted a kamukuzu fic that was just them making out and not even caring because lol despair, but that was... really difficult and awkward to write, haha. Never again!


	12. Eating ice cream (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Hogwarts AU, except the AU doesn't REALLY matter, it just makes this setting make... a tiny bit more sense.

Also Kuzuryu is a total Italophile in this AU lmao

* * *

 **Day 13: Eating ice cream**

Sicily was... interesting.

Hajime hadn't been sure that Fuyuhiko had really been serious about inviting him to the Kuzuryu summer home, but sure enough, not one week into their summer holidays, Izuru had flown into his bedroom window with a letter detailing the specific procedure for accessing the international Floo network, paired with an incredibly detailed pronunciation guide for the Italian address he'd need to specify "if you don't wanna get stuck in the fucking asscrack of the Dolomites."

Hajime hadn't gotten stuck in the fucking asscrack of the Dolomites, but the northwest side of Panarea island where the Kuzuryus had established their summer villa wasn't much livelier—though he supposed that made sense for a wizarding establishment. Not that it was a _bad_ thing—the view of the sea was amazing, and he had nothing against the mountainside hiking trails, but, well, when they made the trek over to the other side of the mountain after lunch to explore the shops near the port, and there _still_ wasn't much in the way of civilization... Hajime had to admit that he had kind of expected more from Italy.

"Don't look at me like that," Fuyuhiko said, scowling. "It's, y'know. Quaint and shit?"

"Quaint," Hajime repeated, peeking into a small shop that looked more like an old grandma's storage shed than a place of business.

"Oh, shut it." Fuyuhiko kicked him in the shin lightly. "We'll go to some of the larger islands tomorrow and Palermo the next day, but for today we're taking it easy and hanging around Panarea. Wait, speaking of..." Fuyuhiko took out a pocket watch and glanced at it quickly. "Shit, it's almost riposo."

"Riposo?"

"It's when everyone closes up shop and takes a nap, so the place turns into a ghost town."

 _Even more of a ghost town than it is already?_ Hajime bit back the snark—most of the islanders he had met didn't actually speak English, but he didn't want to risk causing offense.

"Let's grab something before everything closes. Hajime, have you ever had real Italian gelato?"

"Real..." Hajime blinked down at his friend. "Um, no? I don't think so, at least?"

A grin spread across Fuyuhiko's face. "Oh, you're in for a treat. Come on, there's a gelateria just around the corner here."

Hajime wasn't sure what a "gelateria" was actually supposed to look like, but he had sort of expected something more substantial than a glorified ice cream cart under a rustic stone overhang. Still, he let Fuyuhiko chat with the shop owner as he looked over the few flavor choices, eventually deciding on the same chocolate-and-hazelnut variety that Fuyuhiko ordered.

"Okay, are you ready?" Fuyuhiko said as they walked away from the cart, the owner closing up as they left. "You're gonna thank me for this, trust me."

"I feel like you're more hyped for this than I am," Hajime quipped, tentatively poking at the dessert with his tiny plastic spoon.

"Yeah sure, we'll see what you're saying about in just a moment. Now try it!"

Shrugging, Hajime scooped up a small amount of the gelato and took a bite. It left a rich flavor as it melted on his tongue, sweet and nutty, and the coldness in his throat was incredibly satisfying with the sun hanging high overhead. It was good. Definitely very tasty. But if Hajime were being completely honest...

"This doesn't taste any different from normal ice cream," he said, staring at his empty spoon.

"What?!" Fuyuhiko squawked around his own bite of gelato. "You're mad. It's obviously way better!"

"I... really don't taste the difference, mate." Hajime took another bite; yeah, it definitely didn't seem any different from ice cream.

"What, did you jinx your fucking tastebuds off or something?!"

"No," Hajime said, pouting around the spoon. "I mean, it still tastes good. I just don't see how it's any different from ice cream."

"It's denser! And it has more milk."

"Then why do you like it?"

"Fuck you!" Fuyuhiko kicked at his ankle again. "Milk tastes like shit, gelato doesn't! And I'm just gonna take yours away from you if you keep speaking such blasphemy."

"I'm just saying," Hajime said, grinning. It was less about arguing the alleged difference between ice cream and gelato now and more about poking Fuyuhiko's buttons. "How is gelato any better than ice cream? I mean, it doesn't even come with a Flake."

"Who cares about a bloody Flake you fucking Brit!"

"You're a Brit too!"

They squabbled good-naturedly as they finished up their gelato, and as Hajime scraped the bottom of his bowl with his spoon, he hummed thoughtfully. "Hey, what was that flavor called, anyway? It was good."

"Hmm?" Fuyuhiko glanced up at him, chewing on his plastic spoon. "'S called bacio."

"Bacio, huh?" Hajime repeated, trying out the word on his tongue. "Bacio, bacio... bacio..."

"D-don't keep saying 'bacio bacio' like that," Fuyuhiko muttered, and Hajime noticed that his cheeks had flushed a light pink as he glanced around at the closed storefronts.

"Huh?" Hajime looked around at the storefronts too, but saw nothing strange. "Why? What does 'bacio' mean?"

Fuyuhiko's face flared even redder. "I— I said to stop saying it!"

"But what does it mean?"

"I'm not fucking telling you that, just don't _say_ it!"

Hajime raised an eyebrow and felt a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. "What, 'bacio'?"

Fuyuhiko started an all-out assault on Hajime's shins then, yelling at him to _shut the fuck up and stop laughing, and pick up that fucking bowl you just dropped, just be quiet you asshole it's riposo!_

Hajime decided not to point out who was causing more of a ruckus during riposo.

* * *

 **Notes:** IZURU IS HAJIME'S OWL OK? OK COOL.


	13. Genderswapped (fem kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Genderswap AU... obviously lmao.

I actually wasn't really looking forward to this prompt because I'm not super into F/F (I have nothing against it, just not really my jam), but it turned out to be ridiculously fun? Like, this might be one of my favorites so far this month? And now I kind of want to revisit this universe again someday...

And just as a bit of forewarning, there is pretty much no way to make a masculine name out of "Peko" so male!Peko has a completely different name!

 **Trigger warning for sexual assault.**

* * *

 **Day 14: Genderswapped**

This was certainly a new predicament for Hinata.

She wasn't used to being targeted during by strange men, even when she was walking by herself—she figured that her tall stature and broad shoulders were enough to discourage them, even though she admittedly had no training in fighting or self-defense to make use of them. She was just awkwardly shaped, and not what was considered attractive for a girl—the fact that she had never even been confessed to by a guy in her fifteen years of life was enough proof of that.

So being groped on a crowded rush hour train was not something she had experienced before.

Hooray. That was one thing she could cross off her bucket list.

She sighed, hugging her schoolbag to her chest anxiously. The guy wasn't letting up, keeping hold of her ass through her skirt, and the little room she had to squirm into a different position did nothing to help. It was gross and dehumanizing, and the taste of iron stung at her tongue as she bit her lower lip, trying desperately not to cry.

She didn't want to just stand quietly and let it happen, of course, but she had to be smart about it. She kept her ear attuned to the overhead announcement; when they started approaching the next station, she'd turn, grab his hand, and make a scene. That way, once the doors opened, the station attendants and other commuters would take notice and intercept the groper's inevitable attempt to escape, and the authorities wouldn't be far behind, either.

Right. That was the best strategy, so she just had to put up with it for a few more seconds.

The announcement came over the speakers that the train was pulling into the next station, so Hinata took a deep breath, mentally prepared herself, and reached around to grab the assailant's wrist.

"Hey—"

"Hey, you fucking asshole!"

Hinata jumped in surprise when another hand landed next to hers on the groper's arm and she stumbled to the side, her eyes widening when she saw a small foot kick out and land square in the groper's groin.

The man doubled over in pain, and a loud murmur swelled around them as the train doors opened and people took notice of what was happening. Through the commotion, Hinata managed to catch sight of a small girl with blonde plaits pinned tightly to her head, her round face contorted in rage.

"That's what you get for assaulting a helpless girl, asshole!" she yelled, trying to swipe at him with a bamboo sword but not having much success in the crowded train. "Thought no one was gonna call you out on it, huh? Well you were dead wrong, fucker!"

A tall boy with glasses and long silver hair tied into a low ponytail wearing glasses managed to reach the small girl and gently took the sword away, even as she yelled in protest. As Hinata tried to wrap her head around the situation, a station attendant pushed his way onto the train and grabbed hold of the assailant to escort him onto the platform.

"It was her, right there!" The blonde girl pointed directly at Hinata. "That bastard was feeling this girl up!"

The station attendant, keeping his hold on the perpetrator, turned to Hinata. "Would you like to come to the station office to give a statement?"

Hinata gripped her bag nervously. She didn't want the man to get away with it, of course, but she also didn't want to have to be around him any longer than necessary. "Well, I—"

"Are you going to let _her_ go, then?!" the man started yelling, jerking his head in the direction of the blonde girl. "She assaulted _me_!"

"Yeah, and who the fuck was doing the assaulting first?!" the girl retorted, flipping a middle finger in his direction as the boy behind her sighed. "You asked for it!"

The station attendant gave her a weary look. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me too, then. Please step off the train so that it can continue along its route."

Hinata watched as the attendant left with the pervert, followed by the girl and the silver-haired boy, and she took a deep breath. "Um, I'm coming too!" she announced, following them off the train. The idea of being in the same room with her assailant for a little while longer was a bit more reassuring with the other girl around. "I'd like to give my statement..."

The station attendant simply nodded, as if he didn't care one way or the other, but the blonde girl grinned and lifted a fist in Hinata's direction.

After a moment of slight confusion, Hinata caught on and lifted her own fist to bump against the girl's.

"Knew you weren't just some pushover," she whispered conspiratorially. "Now let's get this guy behind bars."

* * *

"Behind bars" was a bit of an overstatement, and the implication that it would be due to the efforts of the two high school girls even moreso; Hinata described what had happened, the blonde girl explained what she witnessed, and the groper latched on hard to his argument that _he_ was made into a victim. In the end, the police officer responding to the incident simply noted down their statements to go on the groper's record, let him go with a warning, and asked for the blonde girl's student ID in order to report her misconduct to her school. Oddly, as soon as the officer flipped her school handbook open, he paused, looked at her uneasily, and immediately handed it back, mumbling to not do it again.

"Man, the police are useless as _fuck_ ," the blonde girl complained after they were dismissed from the station office.

"Not so loud, Miss," the boy accompanying her whispered. "The officer can still hear you."

"So what?" The girl spun around, continuing to walk backwards as she spoke. "Let him hear what a shit job he's doing, I don't care!"

Hinata giggled nervously as she finished up her text message, letting her mom know that she had gotten sidetracked and would be home a bit late. "You don't have any fear, huh? Thanks for sticking up for me on the train."

"Huh?" The girl looked up at her, a dumbfounded expression on her cherubic, freckled face. "Of course I was gonna say something! Like I was just going to ignore some sleazebag assaulting a girl? And I wouldn't sell yourself short, either." She grinned and nudged Hinata in the side. "I noticed you trying to stand up for yourself, but by that time I was already making my move and couldn't just stop, you know?"

"No, at that point you still could have refrained from taking my sword," the boy said in a deadpan tone.

The girl scoffed. "If you're gonna not gonna use that thing when it's needed, Fujiya, then one of us has to."

"You were nearly reported to your school for 'needing' to use it."

Hinata giggled again. "But still, thanks. My name is Hajime Hinata, by the way. I'm..." She looked at the girl's school uniform, feeling a slight pang of envy when she recognized it. That was the high school Hinata had wanted to attend herself, but she hadn't passed the entrance exam. She bit her lip, tearing her eyes away from the bow on the girl's chest, and smiled. "That's the ribbon color for first-years at your school, right? We're the same age, then."

"Oh... yeah." The blonde girl looked down at her ribbon, fixing it up when she noticed that it had come partially untied in the commotion. "I'm Fuyumi Kuzuryu, and that's Fujiya Pekoyama. Who can _go and head home now_ , by the way."

Pekoyama blinked at the small girl blankly. "What? No, Miss, I'm meant to escort you home—"

"And I'm saying that's not necessary." Kuzuryu waved her hand dismissively. "I'm gonna hang out with Hinata for a bit and to unwind after all that bullshit, so go home."

"But Miss—"

"Look, Fujiya, you really don't wanna hang around with us, we're gonna be talking about girly shit like periods and tampons."

Hinata choked a bit in surprise, feeling her cheeks grow pink, and Pekoyama's face began to color as well. "E-even still..."

Kuzuryu gave a loud sigh and finally turned to face the boy directly. "Do I really have to spell this out to you? Hinata here just had a traumatic experience at the hands of a man. I think she needs to have some girl time with me to calm down a bit. So get your male ass out of here, you're being a nuisance."

Understanding dawned on Pekoyama's face, and he gave Hinata a brief apologetic look before bowing in Kuzuryu's direction. "I'll be waiting for you at home, then," he said before turning and heading back for the platforms.

"You didn't... have to chase him off like that," Hinata said once he was out of hearing range, even as she felt the tension melting from her body. She hadn't even realized that she was particularly on-edge.

"Nah, it's a pain to have him around all the time anyway," Kuzuryu said dismissively. "We've grown up together and all so we're really close, but my folks have got it in his head that he's supposed to be my bodyguard or whatever. Do you know how annoying it is to have some guy following me around every minute to keep me safe? I enrolled in an all-girls high school so he wouldn't have to do keep doing that, but he _still_ shows up at the school gates to take me home every day. As if I'm not perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Why? Just because I'm a girl?" She snorted. "I _guarantee_ that it wouldn't be like this if our genders were flipped."

Hinata smiled lightly, glancing down at the small girl; honestly, she did look like the type who would need to be protected: cute and petite, with rosy cheeks and super long eyelashes. She was everything that Hinata wasn't—but, as had been made obvious, a frail maiden she was not. "You must be from a pretty important family, then? If you've even been assigned a bodyguard and all."

Kuzuryu opened her mouth as if to answer, but then closed it again, a conflicted expression marring her face. "Something like that, I guess," she muttered. "Forget about that, though, there's a pretty good bakery at this station. Let's treat ourselves to something sweet, I think we deserve it!"

"Huh?" Hinata blinked rapidly at Kuzuryu, then pointed to herself. "Wait, I... didn't you just use me as an excuse to get Pekoyama-kun off your back...?"

"Huhhh?" Kuzuryu scoffed. "I said I was gonna hang out with you, didn't I? So let's hang out!" She placed her hands on her hips, grinning. "I mean, unless you don't wanna, but I'm serious, this place has some _really_ good sweet breads. I'll even be nice enough to treat you..."

Warmth blossomed in Hinata's chest, and finally a laugh bubbled up from her throat. "Well, in that case... I think I'll take you up on that!"

And, if Hinata wasn't completely misreading this girl that she had only just met, it seemed that Kuzuryu was just as pleased to hear it.

* * *

 **Notes:** The name "Peko" comes from Peko-chan, the mascot of Milky candy (which is parodied by the Shining Justice mask btw). Milky is made by Fujiya Co.

And that's how genderswapped Peko became Fujiya.

(I considered going the extra mile and calling him Fujiya Fujiyama but that was just... a little too much, haha.)


	14. In a different clothing style

**Notes:** Kibougaoka AU (it actually matters this time), Kuzuhina!

* * *

 **Day 15: In a different clothing style**

"You've really never worn a formal kimono before?" Kuzuryu's mother tutted softly as she bustled about her room, searching through dressers and unearthing garment boxes.

Hinata tried to muster up a polite smile. "Not, uh... not since Shichi-Go-San," he answered. He fidgeted slightly, daring not to budge from the zabuton she had sat him on. Hinata wasn't exactly keen on the fact that his boyfriend's mother had grabbed him and dragged him away as soon as dinner was over, but he could very clearly see the naginata hung on the wall, sitting upon open hooks that made it clear the weapon wasn't merely meant for decoration.

Kuzuryu had warned him to never defy his mother while the naginata was in view. He'd also warned him not to defy her even while it _wasn't_ in view. Hinata wasn't about to put that to the test.

"Hmm... not even for your coming-of-age ceremony?"

Hinata winced; Coming of Age Day that year that had been less than a week after his mother's death, and he hadn't been in the mood to do _anything_ productive, much less arbitrary, antiquated formalities. "I, uh, didn't go. Wasn't feeling well that day."

"I see... That's a shame." She walked over carrying a black haori with a white tassel and held the sleeve up to Hinata's arm to judge the length. "Hmm... This might be a bit too big. I'll see if there's anything from when my husband was younger..."

"Um... you don't have to do this," Hinata tried, hoping to find an avenue of escape.

"Oh, nonsense," Kuzuryu's mother dismissed. "Every young man should have a proper coming-of-age photo. I'm just making sure you have one, too."

"Wait, a photo...?" Hinata waved his hands in front of him. "No, that's not— I mean, I'm already 25, you don't have to—"

"Hmm?" She smiled gently at him, but there was definitely a dangerous edge to her gaze.

"I... I..." Catching sight of the naginata in his peripheral vision, Hinata deflated. "I just wouldn't want to be a bother..."

"Not at all!" Kuzuryu's mother gushed, finding another haori and holding it up to Hinata's chest. "Yes, I think this one will fit much better. I'll still need to pin it back a bit, but..."

Hinata sighed, letting himself admit defeat and relax as well as he could while the petite woman wandered about, pulling out this kimono and that hakama, occasionally requesting Hinata to stand up and try on a piece of clothing before swapping it out for something different.

"Yes," she muttered, pinching the waist of the most recent hakama forced onto him, "I think this will do quite well, it's just a matter of getting it tailored to fit you..."

"Wait, tailored?" Hinata asked, alarmed. "I thought you were just pinning these clothes for a picture!"

"Oh, for the picture, yes," she said gently. "But in the long term, you'll need formal clothes that fit you. Once you join the clan, there will be times when you need to dress up, especially as Fuyuhiko-chan's partner."

"W-wait, hold on." Hinata's voice trembled a bit as he took a step back. "I'm not planning on joining the clan!"

"Oh... you aren't?" That dangerous glint had reappeared in her eyes. "Goodness... now that is unfortunate news... So you're dating our Fuyuhiko-chan with the intent to break up with him at some point, too?"

Hinata backed up again, this time tripping on the too-long hakama leg and falling to the floor, banging into a side table with a loud clatter. "I... no, of course not! I'd never... I mean, of course I don't want to break up with him," he stammered as he struggled to get back to his feet, "I just— joining the clan is kind of, you know..."

She hummed airily. "No... no, I don't know. Please do enlighten me, Hajime-chan..."

"Hinata!" The sliding shoji door slammed open and Kuzuryu stood there, panting heavily. "Mom, what the fuck are you— oh _fuck_." He stared at Hinata, eyes wide, then turned back to his mother. "The hell is going on in here?!"

"Oh my, Fuyuhiko-chan, what do you think?" she sing-songed, pulling Hinata's haori closed and patting his chest for good measure. "It's a work in progress, but don't you think he looks handsome in these clothes?"

Kuzuryu stared at Hinata, his cheeks reddening, before pulling his gaze away and staring resolutely at his feet. "Mom, what are you doing with him? He's not a dress-up doll for you to play with!"

"Of course he isn't," his mother said tersely, "but you didn't answer my question, Fuyuhiko-chan. _Don't you think he looks handsome?_ "

Kuzuryu made a pained look, glancing from Hinata to his mother and then back, before finally sighing and saying, "Yes, Mom, he looks handsome," then trailing off with a mutter that sounded suspiciously like _he always fuckin' does, shit..._

Hinata felt his face grew warm and looked away, clearing his throat. He probably wasn't meant to hear that.

"Yes... in fact, I'd even say he looks almost like a proper groom this way, doesn't he?" Kuzuryu's mother mused, looking Hinata up and down before her eyes brightened. "That reminds me, my wedding kimono should be around here somewhere, too! It may actually fit you, Fuyuhiko-chan, and that would make such an adorable picture of you two..."

"Mom!" Kuzuryu yelped, face burning red, but whatever further protests he might have had seemed to dry up in his throat as he looked desperately from his mother, to the naginata, and then finally to Hinata.

Hinata grimaced sympathetically, then shook his hand out of the haori sleeve to surreptitiously seek out Kuzuryu's. Once his fingers were wrapped around his boyfriend's, he gave a supportive squeeze.

Whatever torture was yet to come, at least they'd face it together.

* * *

 **Notes:** ok I wasn't ORIGINALLY planning on the wedding dress but kuzumama was all like "how about it?" so I rolled with it. *SHRUGS FOREVER*


	15. Spooning (naegami)

**Notes:** *tosses this out into the wild* I'm done. I've already spent too long on this one. If I decide to make improvements on this, it'll be in December.

Naegami, takes place between DR1 and DR2? something like that idk.

I wrote a My Hero Academia ficlet for day 16, find it on AO3 if you must.

* * *

 **Day 17: Spooning**

Naegi never would have guessed, prior to dating him, that Togami would be a particularly tactile person. Of course, he hadn't been at first; Naegi remembered, as if it had been a particularly lucid dream, a Togami who was awkward and aloof, unsure of how to physically express the emotions that he had already verbally acknowledged as present.

In the years since, whether it was in response to the emotional toll of the Tragedy, an after-effect of their memory loss, or simply due to the passage of time, it became nearly a guarantee that if Togami were close enough to touch Naegi, he would. It could be a grounding hand on a shoulder, the feather-light touch of an elbow against his, or a palm like a brand upon his hip, but there was nearly always some sort of physical contact between them.

So it came as no surprise that they almost always shared a room—shared a _bed_ —in the Future Foundation barracks. Naegi didn't mind, of course; he was a little self-conscious at first, because sometimes he drooled in his sleep a bit, and what if he turned over the wrong way and cut off the circulation to Togami's arm? But they had been together long enough that whatever scathing words Togami had to say about it no longer had any heat behind them. Even if they did, the safety and security he felt wrapped in Togami's arms overnight was precious enough to put up with it.

Naegi's concern was that he couldn't really return the favor, at least not in the same way. Togami's body just fit so perfectly around his, the taller man's heartbeat at his back and soft breath in Naegi's hair a constant reminder that he was there and _alive_ , but there was no way for them to switch positions without without Naegi feeling and looking ridiculous. It would probably be far less comfortable, too.

Naegi's size didn't normally bother him, but he did regret just a little bit that he was too small to reasonably be the "big spoon."

So Naegi just had to do his best from where he was. He'd trail his hands along Togami's forearms, twine their fingers together, bring his hands up and leave soft kisses along his knuckles.

Naegi just hoped that it was enough to return even a fraction of the security Togami gave him.

* * *

 **Notes:** im sorry this is so underwhelming, I deadass almost scrapped the whole thing to just write about literal spoons instead


	16. Doing something together (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** okay screw this vague-ass prompt I'm just gonna write a super-indulgent flower shop AU.

* * *

 **Day 18: Doing something together**

A sunflower walked into the store.

Hinata blinked, baffled by his own internal monologue. Of course, being surrounded by flowers nearly every waking hour he wasn't in class, it made sense that he'd occasionally equate them with people. That wasn't the issue.

The issue was that, contrary to his initial reaction, the customer who had just walked into the shop actually _wasn't_ like a sunflower at all. Maybe the blond hair fit the image, but that was it.

Sunflowers were bright and cheerful and tall. This customer was a bit awkward, visibly grumpy, and a good head shorter than Hinata. Hinata watched as the man sauntered around the store, his golden eyes darting nervously as he studied the bouquets on display. If he were to _really_ think of a flower that would suit him... golden lace? Maybe snapdragons? Honestly, he wasn't any good at coming up with that stuff consciously...

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" Hinata was abruptly pulled from his reverie, somehow missing the fact, even as his eyes were trained on the man, that he had approached the counter. "No. I mean, yes. I mean..." He took a deep breath to gather himself. "I'm sorry, sir, what can I help you with?"

The customer gave Hinata a look as if he were questioning his sanity—which was fair—before speaking again. "I need... you know... flowers."

 _Good thing you're at a flower shop, then._ "What kind of flowers, sir?" he probed.

"I mean..." Hinata watched as the man glanced furtively about the store. "It doesn't need to be anything special, I'd just grab a pre-made bouquet but you've just got... lovey-dovey wedding shit all over."

"Well, it's June."

"I fucking know it's June!" the customer snapped, and Hinata found himself transfixed by the charming shade of pink beginning to color his cheeks. "I just need, you know, flowers that are, like..." He gestured vaguely with his hands, and Hinata waited patiently, curious what standard he was using to find the perfect flowers—was he looking for a specific color? size? environment? "I just don't want to imply anything weird when I give them to her, all right? It's just a birthday present."

Ah. Flower language. Hinata honestly hadn't memorized much of that yet—Nanami was much better at it, but she was on break—so he pulled out a reference booklet he kept handy at the counter and flipped it open. "All right, what sort of message do you want to be expressing, then? Is this for a girlfriend?"

"No!" the man yelped, the color in his cheeks deepening. "I _just_ fuckin' said I didn't want to imply anything weird!"

So "weird" meant "romantic," okay. Hinata flipped the booklet towards the more platonic sentiments. "What is this woman to you, then? A friend? Mother? Sister?"

The blond man scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "If I... had to choose one of those, I guess she's closer to a sister... maybe? Something between that and a friend. We grew up together and she's always looking out for me, even when I don't want her to, so..."

Hinata hummed thoughtfully as he scanned the book until finally he landed on a picture of fluffy blue button-shaped blossoms. "What about flossflower?" He turned the book around to let the customer take a look. "It stands for 'reliability' and 'comfort.' I think we also have it in pink and white, so I can put together a bouquet with a bit of color variation, too."

The customer frowned down at the picture in the book and Hinata stepped back, suddenly all too conscious of the proximity between their faces. The customer stared at the book for a moment longer before glancing away. "You're pretty good at this," he mumbled.

"Ah... not at all," Hinata answered, feeling his own cheeks growing warm. "I literally just aimlessly flipped through a book for a few seconds."

The blond man gave a short laugh. "Guess you're right. Sure, I'll buy a dozen of those, then."

Nodding, Hinata stowed the book away and turned towards the back to get the bouquet together, sparing a few glances towards the customer as he worked. He wasn't sure why the blond man was so embarrassed about buying flowers for a sister figure—maybe it wasn't in his nature to be so... sensitive? Just from the way he presented himself, the man seemed to want to exude the aura of a tough gangster, in which case he seemed to be stepping outside of his comfort zone, coming to a flower shop.

It was kind of endearing.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Hinata finished up the bouquet of flossflower with a deep blue ribbon and brought it up to the counter. "Here's your bouquet, sir," he announced, handing it over and ringing up the price on the register.

"Yeah, thanks." After handing over the his payment, the customer paused before adding, "And, uh... seriously, thanks... for your help."

There was that blush stealing Hinata's attention again, and as the customer turned to leave the store, Hinata kept his eyes trained on him, following him as he exited the door and disappeared out of sight.

What was the flower language for sunflowers, anyway?

Curious, Hinata pulled the booklet out again and flipped through the pages until he finally landed on the entry for the tall yellow flowers.

 _"Yearning - 'I can't keep my eyes off of you.' "_

Hinata's face grew hot. He slammed the book closed and pushed it to the side, silently berating himself, wondering exactly how many times he had glanced at the blond man while he was in the store, and not daring to try to put a name to the hazy feeling growing in his chest.

A sunflower, indeed.

* * *

 **Notes:** the "something" that they're doing together is "being dorks"

Sunflowers are the flowers of the Leo sign, golden lace is the August 16 birthday flower, and snapdragons... just look a bit grumpy tbh


	17. In formal wear (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** lmao I accidentally already wrote about kuzuhina in formal clothes a few days ago soooo... Hogwarts AU let's go!

* * *

 **Day 19: In formal wear**

"So." Natsumi perched herself on the arm of the common room chair Hajime had claimed for himself. He tried to stay focused on his Arithmancy homework; it was rarely a good sign when the younger Kuzuryu seeked him out. "Are you going to be hanging around my brother at the Yule Ball?"

"I'm going with Chiaki," he answered absently.

"Not what I asked," Natsumi sighed, rolling her eyes. "I asked if you're going to be seen around my brother at any point while the ball is happening."

Hajime furrowed his brow, confused. "I mean... probably? We're friends, so sure. But why does it matter?" He glanced up at her. "You're not even going to be there, are you?"

Natsumi frowned, irritated by the reminder that she hadn't managed to charm any older students into taking her as their plus-one. "I— I still have a week to find a date! But there's gonna be a bunch of press around, you know? Just because those goddamn golden kids of Gryffindor petitioned for a Yule Ball without a Triwizard Tournament..." She trailed off into a grumble for a moment before pinning Hajime with a sharp glare. "My point is, if there's any chance of you being seen with my brother, I can't have you looking ridiculous or else you'll embarrass our entire family by association. I heard you asking Peko and Ikusaba to explain just the mere _concept_ of dress robes, you know!"

Hajime flushed; he had specifically seeked out his least acerbic housemates to figure out that particular conundrum, back when the Yule Ball invitations were first distributed around Halloween. "So what about it?" he mumbled.

"Let me see what you're planning to wear to the ball," Natsumi spelled out. "I need to make sure you look presentable."

Hajime paused, considering her offer. It wasn't that he was particularly embarrassed to let her see, but... "Are you just trying to be involved in the ball somehow?"

This time it was Natsumi's turn to blush, her ever-rosy cheeks pinking further. "No! Of course not! Like I already told you, I just can't have some poorly-dressed Muggle-born being seen with my equally stupid brother, all right?!"

Hajime hummed thoughtfully. "And I'm guessing that Fuyuhiko didn't let you have any say in his dress robes, either?"

Natsumi's blush deepened. "Look, _Hajime_ , I'm offering to do you a favor here!"

Hajime closed his Arithmancy textbook with a light soft thump. "It's fine, I don't really mind. I actually just kind of grabbed something random from the robes the school was renting out, so I was thinking I might want to spruce it up somehow anyway. I wasn't really looking forward to asking Enoshima for help."

"Wait, you're not even going to wear your own set of dress robes?" Natsumi scrunched her nose in disgust.

"No? I couldn't ask my parents to send anything from home, obviously."

She sighed, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder. "Good thing I decided to step in, then. Come on, let's see what you have."

* * *

"Hmm..." Natsumi stalked around the pine green robes hovering in mid-air as if from an invisible hanger. She looked the outfit up and down, occasionally reaching out to touch the fabric appraisingly, lifting up layers with the tip of her wand to see it from every angle. "This actually isn't that bad. A little plain, but it's a nice color for you."

Hajime let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Coming from her, that was high praise. "So you have no problems with me wearing that to the ball?"

"I didn't say that." Natsumi scoffed, plucking at the waistcoat. "Didn't I say it's too plain? I think we should Charm on some embroidery around here, at least, and maybe a belt in... gold? Maybe silver..."

"Gold, please," Hajime quickly cut in. He may have warmed to his House a bit more over the years, but he wasn't too keen on the idea of showing up to the Yule Ball looking like Salazar Slytherin.

Natsumi arched an eyebrow at him before turning back to the robes. "Gold, huh?"

"Uh, sure. Gold is a nice color."

"Hmm..." Natsumi took a sleeve of the robe, feeling it between two fingers. "My brother's going to be there in gold robes, I hear."

Hajime flushed; why bring up Fuyuhiko there? "Ah... really?"

"Yup," she said, popping the "p." "You'll make quite the good pair, I think."

"I said that I'm going to the ball with Chiaki."

"And Fuyuhiko's going with Peko." She looked up at him, eyes shining mischievously. "Why do you keep assuming I'm referring to my brother as your date?"

Hajime's heart leapt into his throat. "I didn't... That's not what I was thinking."

"Yet you keep needing to point out _Chiaki, Chiaki_. I honestly don't give a shit about who your date is." Natsumi stepped back and wrapped her arms around herself with an exaggerated shiver. "Ugh, but just _thinking_ of you and my brother like that is creepy. I'm gonna go grab some things to lend you, you take this time to pull yourself together." She flicked her wand, making the robes fold themselves in midair before settling on the common room sofa, then headed towards the corridor to the girls' dorms.

Hajime frowned as he watched her leave. He really didn't understand why he'd need to "pull himself together"; Fuyuhiko was just a good friend, _Natsumi_ was the one jumping to conclusions.

He slumped onto the sofa next to his robes, running a finger along the hem, trying to visualize what kind of golden embroidery would look best there.

Gold...

He threw his head back against the sofa, groaning silently. Now he couldn't _help_ but wonder what Fuyuhiko was going to look like, wearing robes the color of his eyes.

* * *

 **Notes:** To be continued? *eyes emoji*


	18. Dancing (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Continued from last chapter, it's the Hogwarts AU again!

* * *

 **Day 20: Dancing**

Hajime hadn't been too worried in the days leading up to the Yule Ball, honestly. He was going to go hang out with good friends, eat good food, and make good memories for the holidays.

But a knot was steadily forming in his throat after the end of dinner, as he watched the Head Boys and Head Girls of each House leading the way to the ballroom floor, the seventh-years the very picture of mature elegance.

Hajime had never danced before.

There had been optional classes for ballroom dancing during November and December, which Hajime had simply waved off, and looking around at the other fourth- and fifth-years idling awkwardly on the sides it was clear that he wasn't alone.

But, well, questionable decisions to skip out on extracurriculars aside, Hajime figured that it would be a bit rude to if he didn't at least _try_ for the sake of his date.

He looked over at Chiaki, who was wearing long, flowy rose gold colored robes—though it was hard to tell from the way she was slouched in her seat, focused on playing the old Nintendo DS Hajime had given her in second year.

"Hey," he said under his breath, elbowing her lightly to get her attention. "Do you, uh... do you want to dance?"

She spared him the briefest of glances before turning back to Mario Kart. "No, I'm fine. You don't really want to either, I think."

Hajime hid his sigh of relief beneath a laugh. "Well, you got me. I think I'm gonna go grab a bottle of butterbeer, do you want one?"

Chiaki's eyes glimmered, and though Hajime couldn't tell if it was in response to the offer of butterbeer or the item box she had just received in the game, she nodded. "Sure. I'll still be here when you get back."

Nodding, Hajime stood up and made his way over to the refreshments table, carefully maneuvering along the edges of the dance floor to get there. It was crowded with teenagers pointedly avoiding having to dance to the slow-tempo music, and he had to mutter continuous apologies as he squeezed himself through. Even as he finally approached the refreshments, he bumped into someone else, just managing to grab the edge of the table before he could trip. "Ah, sorry."

"'s fine," the person responded, and Hajime snapped to attention at the familiar voice, honing in on the flash of gold beginning to retreat back into the crowd.

"Fuyuhiko!" Hajime shot his hand out, grabbing onto the other boy's sleeve before he could disappear. When the Hufflepuff blinked up at him in confused alarm, Hajime dropped his grip, raising his hands in front of his chest. Why had he grabbed onto him like that? "Ah, sorry," he said. "You probably need to go back to Peko, right?"

Fuyuhiko shrugged, glancing away as his cheeks turned pink. "Nah, neither of us are really into dancing, so she's over there talking about duelling club stuff with Mukuro. I was just moving to give you room."

"Ah... right." Hajime flushed, then shuffled closer so that he could grab a bottle of butterbeer for himself. "So... I guess both of us have dates that aren't really interested in dancing, huh?"

Fuyuhiko snorted. "Just how I like it, honestly. You couldn't pay me to go out there and make a fool out of myself."

Popping the cap off of his butterbeer, Hajime finally situated himself in a position where he could see Fuyuhiko more clearly, and grinned when he noticed the small plate of sweets in the smaller boy's hands. "You've never learned how to dance, then?"

"Of course I've learned," Fuyuhiko scoffed. "I'm not half-bad at it, either. I just _really_ don't wanna."

"I see," Hajime mused, making himself comfortable as he leaned against the table next to Fuyuhiko. "I just never learned, period."

Fuyuhiko just huffed, a small smile tugging at his lips, and Hajime looked at him from the corner of his eye as he sipped at his butterbeer. Though they had sat at the same table for dinner, this was the first good look he'd gotten at Fuyuhiko in his dress robes. He was in golden robes, just as Natsumi had said, with stark black trim along the edge; underneath was a low-cut double-breasted waistcoat in pale gold and a black pleated-front dress shirt.

He looked... well, he looked good.

 _Wow_ , it was getting hard to swallow for some reason. Hajime pulled the bottle away from his lips before he could choke himself, painfully gulping down the butterbeer already in his mouth. Yikes.

They watched the dancers for a few minutes as the music shifted to to a more upbeat tune. Hajime fiddled with the bottle in his hands; it felt like his heart was beating like a drum in his ears, but surely that had to be the music's bass track.

"Heh, look at them." Fuyuhiko nudged Hajime in the side, pointing to a pair of students dancing uneasily, faced screwed up as if in concentration while their legs jerked in unsteady motions. "They look like they have no idea what they're doing. They're barely even on tempo."

"Haha, yeah," Hajime laughed, rubbing his side where Fuyuhiko had jabbed him. It didn't hurt, but the point of contact was oddly warm. "It looks like there are more people joining in now that the music has picked up."

"Yeah, I guess so," Fuyuhiko shrugged, though Hajime was a bit irritated to find his attention partly taken by Hiyoko Saionji's familiar giggle on the edge of his consciousness.

"Now that's more like it!" came the unmistakable voice of Ibuki Mioda, not too far beyond Fuyuhiko's shoulder. "Let's get those dancing feet moving!"

"Wait a second," Fuyuhiko muttered under his breath, turning in the direction of the girl's voice as a green glow erupted from the crowd. "Don't tell me—"

"Fuyuhiko!" Ibuki burst out of the crowd and landed in front of them, balancing on one foot like some sort of punk-rock ballerina. "And Hajime, too! What'cha two being such wallflowers for?!"

Hajime held up his butterbeer. "We can't really dance when—"

"You don't need to come up with excuses, Ibuki's here to fix you right up!" she crowed as Hiyoko came up behind her, doubled over in hysterics.

Hajime's body moved before he even fully processed the sight of Ibuki pulling out her wand, pointing it at them as she uttered around snickers, "Tarantallegra!"

Planting his hands on Fuyuhiko's shoulders to fully shield him from the spell, Hajime felt a tingling run down his spine and through his legs, which started moving beyond his control.

"Ibuki!" he groaned, turning to glance over his shoulder, only to see the cackling girl disappearing back into the crowd.

"Have fun, Hajime!" Hiyoko sing-songed, snickering wildly as she followed after, the long sleeves of her dress robes billowing behind her as she made her exit.

Meanwhile, Hajime's feed had decided on their own that they just _had_ to head out to the dance floor.

"Wait— let go of me, dumbass!" Fuyuhiko hissed, even as he grabbed onto Hajime's forearms like a vice to keep from tripping face-first as Hajime pulled him forward. "Did she just hit you with the Dancing Feet Spell?!"

"I— yeah, I'm pretty sure— yeah," Hajime stuttered, his grip tightening on Fuyuhiko's shoulders as he tried and failed to keep his feet under control. "Sorry, I can't—"

"So what the fuck did you pull me out to the dance floor with you for?!" Fuyuhiko growled, reluctantly attempting to keep up with Hajime's pace when he couldn't shake him free. "I told you I _don't_ want to dance."

"Sorry!" Hajime apologized, face growing warm from embarrassment. "Seriously, I'm so sorry, I just grabbed on out of reflex and—"

Growling in frustration, Fuyuhiko finally pulled Hajime's hands from his shoulders. "Well if we're gonna dance, at least put your hands in the right position," he grumbled, cheeks burning scarlet as he placed Hajime's left hand on his hip.

God, he was still so _thin_ —

"I— I can just dance this off by myself, you know—"

"You're the one who got me into this, Hajime, I'm not backing down now." Even through the embarrassed blush, Fuyuhiko's golden eyes burned with intensity. "Besides, well... Ibuki might target me again if I don't, and I'd rather have control over my own movements at least..."

Hajime's throat couldn't manage much more than a pathetic squeak, so he just stared resolutely at the floor and nodded.

They danced wordlessly to the music, which soon transitioned into another quick, up-tempo song; Hajime had no idea if he was really keeping to the beat, but it wasn't like he'd be able to fix it even if he wanted, so he tried to keep his mind off his feet and instead stared at the floor, the ceiling, the boy in front of him—

"You look really good tonight, by the way."

As the song faced into the ending bars, Fuyuhiko looked up at him, brows furrowed, his steps slowing before remembering that Hajime couldn't do the same and starting up again. "What?"

"I mean, you— your..." Hajime gulped nervously as a slower song began. "Your robes. The black on gold. They look really cool, and the— the gold matches your eyes." Embarrassed, unsure of exactly why he was saying that—had Ibuki hit him with some sort of motormouth jinx, too?—Hajime directed his gaze resolutely at some distant point beyond Fuyuhiko's shoulder. "Just thought you might want to know."

He wasn't sure what sort of expression the Hufflepuff might be giving him, and he was scared to look back and find out, but there was a touch of amazement in Fuyuhiko's tone when he answered. "Uh... thanks, I guess," he said. "Your robes look... pretty cool, too."

It was hot. Hajime's face was hot, his ears were hot, his neck was hot, _every part of his body_ that was in contact with Fuyuhiko felt like it was on fire, and there was a stifling warmth behind his ribcage that made it extremely hard to breathe. It was wholly uncomfortable, but oddly not unpleasant; on the contrary, Hajime found himself craving more, wanting the sensation to last longer, and he pulled himself almost imperceptibly closer to Fuyuhiko, hoping the other boy wouldn't notice.

The Dancing Feet Spell had worn off, he realized idly; he was slow dancing with Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu completely of his own volition, and and seeing as he had no idea what he was doing, it was only a matter of time before the other boy caught on and put a stop to it. For the moment, though...

For the moment, Hajime was content with letting what they had last as long as possible.

* * *

 **Notes:** Chiaki got her butterbeer eventually, by the way! Don't worry, I wouldn't leave my girl hanging!


	19. Cookingbaking (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Talent Development Plan AU, because it had a pre-made setup I could work with hahaha laziness abound!

I feel like the boys got pretty OOC in this one and I totally phoned in the ending but it's NaNoWriMo and I don't care.

* * *

 **Day 21: Cooking/baking**

Hinata hadn't expected to get sidetracked by talk of a birthday party for himself, but once Sonia had caught on to the fact that the three boys were just hanging around being useless, she quickly took command and assigned them tasks for the Christmas party preparation.

"Of course, Sonia-san!" Souda enthused, tagging after Sonia's trailing apron straps as she returned to the kitchen. "Anything you ask of me, and I'll be on it!"

"In that case, Souda-san, do you think you could put up the decorations in the dining room?" she asked, turning to him with a sweet smile. "I will be asking Hinata-san and Kuzuryu-san to ice the cupcakes, so you will not be needed here. It will be too crowded in the kitchen with all three of you, anyway."

"Whaaat?" Souda slouched in disappointment, craning his neck to catch a last glimpse glance of Sonia as she disappeared into the kitchen. "But you could just have one of _them_ put decorations up instead! It's not like Hinata's the Ultimate Cupcake Icer or something!"

Hinata and Kuzuryu exchanged glances; neither of them was particularly attached to the idea of icing cupcakes, but they silently agreed that abiding by Sonia's proposal would result in the more pleasant working environment.

"Well, who knows, Souda?" Hinata said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "That might actually be a hidden talent of mine after all! I'll let you know how it goes."

"Good luck with the decorating," Kuzuryu added, a firm slap on Souda's back urging him into the dining room. Once he was gone, Kuzuryu turned to Hinata, knocking his knuckles against his shoulder amicably. "Come on, let's get those cupcakes iced."

It turned out, of course, that Hinata _wasn't_ the Ultimate Cupcake Icer.

"Oh come on, it's not like I could do any better," Kuzuryu assured him as he passed over another cupcake, having just applied the base frosting. He paused in his job to take a look at the three cupcakes Hinata had piped designs onto. "I mean, we can at least tell what you're trying to draw. Look, that's obviously Santa, and a snowman, and a... a comet?"

"A Christmas tree," Hinata muttered as he struggled to draw a sprig of holly on the new cupcake, frowning when he squeezed the piping bag a bit too hard and ended up with an unattractive blob of frosting in the middle of his creation. "You don't have to take pity on me like that, I know it sucks."

"No, seriously, not it's not that bad." Kuzuryu reached up and swiped away a bit of the excess icing. "And see? It's not like you can't just wipe shit off and try again."

Hinata watched Kuzuryu skeptically as he sucked the icing from his finger. "You're going to wash your hands after that, right?"

"No, Hinata, I'm just _dying_ to swap spit with whoever eats these cupcakes." Kuzuryu rolled his eyes and turned to the sink. " _Yes_ , I'm going to wash my hands."

Hinata turned his focus back to the holly he was drawing, and by the time he was reasonably satisfied Kuzuryu had returned with clean hands and iced another cupcake. Hinata picked up it up to decorate, then paused, having run his well of creativity dry after a grand total of four cupcakes.

He looked around the room, searching for some sort of inspiration, when his gaze landed on Kuzuryu, glaring daggers at a cupcake as he tried to even out the frosting as much as possible.

Chuckling, Hinata got to work.

"The fuck is so funny?" Kuzuryu glanced up at him, arching an eyebrow quizzically. "You're not drawing anything weird on there, are you?"

"Huh? Nah, nothing weird."

"Lemme see, then." He stepped over and rose up on tip-toes to take a look, but Hinata held the cupcake higher, out of his line of sight. "Come on, dumbass, let me see!"

"No way!" Hinata held the cupcake over his head. "You'll just wipe off the icing and ruin my work again."

"I was _fixing_ your work before! Just tell me what you were drawing!"

Hinata cocked his head, considering, before tilting the cupcake so that Kuzuryu could see while still keeping it out of reach. "I drew you, that's all."

"Wha—" Kuzuryu stared at the cupcake, his face reddening. "How the fuck is that supposed to be me?! It looks like nothing like me!"

"Really? I thought I did a pretty good job... your face is surprisingly easy to draw."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment? And what are those dots all you put all over my face?!"

"They're, uh, your freckles." Hinata glanced at his handiwork. "And your mole. But mostly your freckles."

"I don't have that many fucking freckles!"

"Yeah you do!" With the hand that was still holding the piping bag, Hinata pointed at Kuzuryu's face, grinning mischievously as he placed a small dollop on the tip of Kuzuryu's nose. "Like right there."

Kuzuryu's mouth flapped soundlessly as he trembled with barely contained rage, his cheeks and ears turning even redder. "I— you— you did _not_ just do that, Hinata!"

"There's one right there here, too," Hinata continued, adding another dot of icing onto one of Kuzuryu's freckles. "And there. And oh, here too."

Kuzuryu angrily wiped the frosting from his face, but Hinata kept adding more each time. "You dumbass— stop that! You're wasting food!"

"It's not going to waste, you keep licking it off your hand. Oh, here's another freckle."

"Fucking _stop_ , Hinata!"

"And there's one here..."

Kuzuryu jumped back, managing to dodge that one, and grabbed the tub of icing he had been using. "Why you..." He scooped out a dollop of icing with his fingers and tossed it into the side of Hinata's face. "See how you like that, asshole!"

Laughing, Hinata wiped the icing from his face as best as he could—some had gone into his ear, but cleaning that out would have to wait. He grabbed Kuzuryu's shoulder, holding him still to dot his entire face from with icing from ear to ear. Squirming out of his grip, Kuzuryu continued to slap frosting into Hinata's face, on his shirt, up his nose...

Half an hour later, they had collapsed onto the kitchen floor, sticky from icing and stomachs sore from laughing.

They still had about twenty cupcakes that had gone completely uniced, but, well, that was just a casualty of battle that they'd have to live with.

* * *

 **Notes:** stop flirting boys dats gay


	20. In battle, side-by-side (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** AU where Hinata joins the Kuzuryu Clan (so post-Island Mode I guess?)

Sorry this is so short, and happy Thanksgiving to anyone who celebrates it today!

* * *

 **Day 22: In battle, side-by-side**

It was only the third time Hinata had accompanied Kuzuryu to a job, and negotiations had failed spectacularly.

"Shit," Kuzuryu breathed, a firm grip on Hinata's tie, as if to make sure he didn't dart out from the shipping crate they had crouched behind. It was an unneeded gesture, probably more for his own peace of mind than anything else—Hinata wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to go back into the rain of bullets. "Didn't want to get you involved in a shootout so soon... sorry."

"It was bound to happen eventually," Hinata sighed, staring down at his gun, watching the way his hands trembled with nerves and the rush of adrenaline. Kuzuryu had taught him out how to shoot, of course, but he hadn't been looking forward to actually putting that skill to use. He'd only managed to shoot one bullet before he froze up, the realization of the sheer power he held in his hands hitting him like a cinderblock to his chest. His hands were still tingling from the recoil.

Meanwhile, Kuzuryu had already cleared out his second round and ducked back from the corner to reload. "You okay, man?"

"Uh, yeah," Hinata said; his voice was quivering in his ears, but he hoped the gunfire was enough to hide that from Kuzuryu. "Yeah, I'm good."

"You remember how to reload?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Stopping halfway from leaning back aground the crate, Kuzuryu looked up at him, his golden gaze sharp. "For real, though, I can't have you shutting down on me now. I'm not heading back out there with you until I know you've got it together."

Hinata breathed out a wry laugh, retrying the grip on his gun. "Don't worry about me so much, just do what you need to do."

"Oh like _hell_."

There was a sharp tug around Hinata's neck and his gun clattered to the concrete floor, but that quickly faded from his consciousness, as well as the sound of gunfire, as every synapse was redirected to focus on the feel of Kuzuryu's lips pressed against his own, firm and quick and insistent.

After allowing himself an indulgent swipe of tongue against the seam of Hinata's lips, Kuzuryu pulled back again, releasing Hinata's tie from his grip. "Of course I'm gonna worry about you, dumbass. Didn't you promise you wouldn't go dying without me?"

Sobered by the kiss, Hinata took a deep breath; the hammering of his heart was returning to a more somewhat more reasonable rate, given the situation. He could feel a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips as he picked up his gun again. "You're right. Let's hurry up and get these guys off our backs, then."

"Now that's more like it." Kuzuryu heaved himself to his feet and shot Hinata a devilish grin. "Let's show these bastards what we're made of. I've no intent on going down tonight, but if we do, Hajime," —his eyes glittered, as if they were dancing— "at least it'll be you and me in a blaze of glory."


	21. Arguing (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** This takes place in the same Island-Mode-AU-with-overly-specific-caveats that I used on day 10. Basically, it's Island Mode, but the five survivors know it's a simulation, and also kuzuhina is just... happening. Because.

* * *

 **Day 23: Arguing**

Souda didn't really mind that his two best bros were dating each other. It had been a little weird to think about when he first found out, but they were definitely good for each other. They had both survived through the killing game together, and that meant they understood each other in ways that no other two guys possibly could (except for Souda, but he wasn't gay).

Also, if they were screwing _each other_ , that meant he had less competition for Sonia. So that was a nice bonus.

But for real, they were happy together, and Souda was thrilled for them. Even when they argued, that wasn't really cause for concern, because, like... wasn't that supposed to be healthy, or something? He was pretty sure that was true from what he had overheard of his mom's daytime dramas as a kid. That after working out an argument their bond would be stronger than ever, with a greater appreciation for each other, or something. So yeah, it had to be a good thing every once in a while!

But sometimes their arguments were just really, _really_ stupid.

"Like I said, why the _fuck_ did you just drink a glass a milk?!"

"I just felt like having milk with breakfast," Hinata said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"You _know_ that I can't stand milk, Hinata!"

"So? _I'm_ the one that drank it, not you." Hinata sighed as he returned to cleaning up his breakfast plate, and from his seat the next table over Souda could see irritated wrinkles forming in the center of his brow. "I didn't do anything wrong, so I'm not apologizing."

"Hey, come on now." Koizumi stepped between them, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I think you're both being a little ridiculous unreasonable here. You're literally arguing over a bit of milk."

"It's not _just_ a bit of milk!"

"Well then, explain." Koizumi placed her hands on her hips, looking down on Kuzuryu crossly. "Why is it such a big deal that Hinata drank milk?"

Kuzuryu's cheeks grew red, and he glanced away, clearly embarrassed. "I just... can't stand it. Not the taste, or even the smell."

"But _I'm_ the one that drank it," Hinata pointed out again, exasperated. "It shouldn't be a problem as long as no one is making _you_ drink it."

"Oh yeah?!" Kuzuryu glared around Koizumi at to his boyfriend. "Then how the fuck am I supposed to kiss you without gagging now?!"

The dining room fell silent, and Kuzuryu's face turned even redder as his own words began to sink in. Besieged with secondhand embarrassment, Souda tugged his beanie low over his forehead, but he couldn't help peeking one eye over, just to make sure his bros were gonna be okay.

"Oh," Hinata said plainly, his own face growing pink. "I... okay. So you mean..."

"Yeah, _oh_!" Kuzuryu huffed, turning away. "If you drink milk, you _smell_ like milk, and then I can't stand to get anywhere near you for the rest of the day!"

"That's... come on, Kuzuryu, the _whole day_? You're still being unreasonable here..."

"Oh, _I'm_ unreasonable, huh?! It's not like I'm choosing to be this way, dumbass!"

"You can't keep me from drinking milk for the rest of my life just because _you_ personally don't like it!"

"Then find a way for you to drink that shit without it affecting me!"

Sighing, Souda stood up from his breakfast and sidled over to Hinata. "Hey," he hissed, tapping Hinata's shoulder and leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Can't you, like, log out and reset your avatar for so that it doesn't smell like milk or something like that?"

"That's a pain in the middle of the day," Hinata whispered back. "And even if I did, that's only a short-term solution. I can't do that every time, and it's never even going to _be_ an option in the real world."

"That's not even the problem, _shit_!" Kuzuryu threw his hands into the air, apparently having overheard the conversation. "The way things are right now, if Hinata drinks a glass of milk, that's like a declaration of war on me, got it?!"

"War?!" Hinata repeated, perplexed anew. "Now you're just exaggerating way too— wait, Kuzuryu?!"

"Forget it!" the yakuza shouted as he stomped his way to the dining room exit. "I can't even deal with you right now, bastard! Don't even _think_ of finding me until you understand what you've done!"

His footfalls down the stairs were like retreating bombs, leaving the entire dining room in stunned post-nuclear silence.

"A declaration of war?" Hinata muttered, placing a hand on his chin in thought. "What the hell—?"

"You still don't get it?" Koizumi gave an exasperated sigh, planting her hands on her hips again. "You really are hopeless. He's saying that since he can't be near you after you drink milk, then you drinking milk is the same as you intentionally pushing him away. Jeez!" She paused, tilting her head ponderingly. "Though... he's pretty much being a baby about this, too. You should just hurry up and make up with him already."

"Exactly." Souda clapped a hand on Hinata's shoulder and shot him a supportive grin. "And if you need any help figuring out what to say to get him back into your arms, you can always count on me!"

"I think Hinata-san would be better off doing that on his own," Sonia suddenly piped up, without even missing a beat.

Souda grimaced. She _had_ to mean that to simply say she had confidence in Hinata's negotiation skills, surely, but that phrasing kind of hurt!

"It's fine." Hinata shrugged Souda's hand off with a hollow laugh. "I'll come up with something, but let's get to work on our morning tasks first."

* * *

 **Notes:** To be continued!


	22. Making up afterwards (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Continued from yesterday, so... same AU!

* * *

 **Day 24: Making up afterwards**

The problem with arguing with Kuzuryu was that he tended to hang on to any slights made against him just that tiny bit too long. Even when Hinata had already decided that he was ready to apologize and make things right, Kuzuryu was still mad enough to make himself scarce.

Hinata had purposely placed them at different assignments during the morning's tasks to give them both time to cool off. And it was certainly enough time for him to decide that—well, drinking milk was definitely a stupid thing to fight over, and he could understand Kuzuryu's point that drinking a glass of milk without warning could be seen as deliberately driving a wedge between them.

Some—... somehow. Okay, so it _still_ seemed a bit ridiculous, but Hinata was ready to _try_ and come to a compromise. He even had a pretty good idea as to how to make amends. And in the worst case scenario, he didn't enjoy milk enough to be completely opposed to swearing it off forever. He was doing his best, and that's what mattered, really!

So after their tasks were done for the day, Hinata made a quick run to Rocketpunch Market to pick up what he needed, then consulted his student handbook to track down his boyfriend.

Great—it looked like he was at the hotel pool. He could intercept him there, duck into one of their cottages if they needed someplace private to talk things out, and then everything would be fixed. Hinata made the quick trip to Hotel Mirai and honed in on Kuzuryu's location—only to find the Ultimate Swordswoman sitting by the pool alone, reading a book.

"Uh... Pekoyama?" Hinata stopped mid-step, confused. "Where's Kuzuryu?"

She glanced up at him over the rim of her glasses. "The young— ah, Kuzuryu," she said, catching herself—and sometimes Hinata wanted to shake her by the shoulders, to yell, _don't worry, you don't need to hide your relationship, me and Souda and Sonia and Owari already know!_ —but those were the base settings they were working with, so he had to let it go. "He was here a moment ago, but he said he had to go do something. I'm not sure where, exactly."

Hinata sighed, ran his fingers through his hair, and glanced at his student handbook. "Ah, really? Um, my handbook says that he's here still, so..."

"Oh, yes." Pekoyama put her book down to pull two handbooks from her skirt pocket. "He forgot his handbook here, so I'm holding on to it. I was going to give it back the next time I see him."

Hinata groaned; so Kuzuryu had (purposefully) left his handbook behind so that Hinata couldn't track him. Great.

Hinata comforted himself with the thought that it was a little bit creepy that they could all track each other in the first place _anyway_ , and it probably wouldn't mean as much if Hinata seeked him out using a shortcut like that. Probably.

The best course of action, under the circumstances, would be to check the places he knew were among Kuzuryu's favorites on the island. He took a quick look around Jabberwock Park on his way to the movie theatre, but didn't find the small yakuza in either location. He took a tentative detour to the fifth island to check the military base, if only to ensure that Kuzuryu hadn't gotten angry to the point of violent retaliation.

Relieved that he wasn't there, Hinata made his way to the fourth island and finally ran into Kuzuryu at the amusement park, strolling aimlessly just outside Usami's house.

"There you are!" Hinata gasped.

Kuzuryu's frown immediately deepened and he turned to walk away.

"Kuzuryu, stop!" There was a stitch in Hinata's side from walking all over the archipelago to look for his boyfriend, but he pushed through the pain to bolt forward and grab Kuzuryu's wrist. "Can we talk, please?"

"Fuck no." Kuzuryu jerked his wrist to try and shake him off, and Hinata grabbed with his other hand just as his fingertips were about to slip away. "You smell like shit, I don't want you anywhere near me."

"Come on, you know we need to talk about this."

"Well I don't fucking _want_ to talk to you right now!"

 _Well, if he's not going to talk..._ With a long-suffering sigh, Hinata decided to throw caution to the wind. He tugged firmly on the yakuza's wrist and, with his other hand, cupped Kuzuryu's jaw to guide their lips together.

Kuzuryu, predictably, fought back against this, pounding his fists against Hinata's chest until Hinata managed to coax his mouth open, sliding his tongue inside, and Kuzuryu froze.

After a few shocked seconds, Kuzuryu pushed at Hinata's chest again, with less force and far less anger. This time Hinata complied.

Kuzuryu stared at up at him, bewildered, and his fingers slowly rose to his lips as if to confirm what had just happened. His brows furrowed before he squinted up at Hinata in disbelief. "Did you have _chocolate_ in your mouth just now?"

Hinata cleared his throat and averted his gaze, suddenly embarrassed by his own actions. It felt like a furnace had burst to life under his skin. "Ah, um... yeah. I mean, if you were convinced that kissing me wouldn't taste good, then, you know... I figured I could just cover it up with something else."

Kuzuryu looked downward, experimentally licking at his lips for what remained of the sweet flavor. Cute. "...Why chocolate?"

"Well, I know you hate the taste and smell of milk, but you still like sweet things that have milk _in_ them, so..."

The shorter boy kept his gaze downward for a moment longer before finally looking back up at Hinata, his eyes blazing. "Hey."

Hinata jumped, unsure if he was about to be cursed out. "Yes?"

"I wasn't ready for that before." He took a bold step closer, grabbing Hinata by the necktie and sliding a knee between his legs. "Do it again."

Hinata's heart soared with thrill and triumph, and he quickly extracted another half-melted chocolate from his pocket and popped it into his mouth before leaning down and taking Kuzuryu's lips in his.

* * *

 **Notes:** come on boys you have to actually talk too, don't just make out... (but that would be boring to write)


	23. Gazing into each other's eyes (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Canon-verse. It's super short but I rather like it.

* * *

 **Day 25: Gazing into each other's eyes**

When Hinata sat up in the pod, all eyes were on him.

He had barely been awake for a full minute, and already he could feel the full weight of all that judgment, all that scrutiny. Through his long, dark hair, he could see glimpses of Souda and Sonia, staring at him as if he were some sort of stranger, barely-concealed fear on their gaunt, exhausted faces.

Hinata could hardly blame them, of course. He _looked_ like a stranger, so it was natural to react that way. Still, he couldn't bring himself to let his gaze wander, not quite ready to see the same expression mirrored on Kuzuryu and Owari as well.

That job was done for him, though, when approaching footsteps warned of Kuzuryu stomping over, slamming his hands onto the edge of Hinata's pod so that he could look up, straight into Kamukura's gaze. One golden eye burned with a fierce glare while the other drooped a bit, the tiniest sliver of pale blue visible between scarred eyelids.

A knot formed in Hinata's throat, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from Kuzuryu. He returned his stare, desperate to convey who he was, that he was their friend, that he was stuck in a body that had been changed beyond his own recognition, but it was still _him_ , Hajime Hinata. He could be trusted.

"W-well...?" came Souda's nervous voice from the edge of the room. "Is that Hinata?"

"Hah?" Kuzuryu broke his stare then, his face contorting in disbelief as he turned to look at Souda. "Of course that's fuckin' Hinata! That much is obvious from first glance, isn't it? I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is in there that doesn't make it obvious to _you_ dumbasses." He smirked back at Hinata, knocking against the side of the pod. "The answer is that there's nothing. That's Hinata, through and through. The rest of you are just blind."

Hinata didn't move. He just stared at Kuzuryu, blinking; whatever words of gratitude and appreciation he might have had wouldn't come. It was as if the feelings were just too big to fit through his windpipe.

"Now I think you've been sleeping long enough." Kuzuryu reached over the edge of the pod and held out a hand, smiling like the sun. "Good morning, Hinata."


	24. Getting married (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Some sort of canon based AU? Probably Island Mode.

btw this is kuzuhina and probably all the rest of the prompts will be kuzuhina too at this point!

* * *

 **Day 26: Getting married**

 _Is this...?_

 **Exchanging vows?**

"Are you... proposing to me or something?"

As soon as the joke made it past his lips, Hinata knew that he was a dead man. There was no way Kuzuryu was going to find it funny in the least; he was going to yell and scream and whatever moment they had right then was completely ruined. Hinata would consider himself lucky if his kidneys didn't end up on the black market before the night was done.

To his surprise, though, Kuzuryu was silent. Tentatively, Hinata peeked at Kuzuryu's face, and saw that he had gone a deep shade of red, from crown to neck. And if Hinata was reading his expression correctly, his flush didn't seem to be one of rage.

"I— you—" Kuzuryu tugged at the knot of his tie, visibly flustered. "S-so what if I was, huh? I'm— I'm not saying I _am_ , but... hypothetically, what would you say if that's what this was?"

"Wh— wait, huh?" Hinata could feel his own face growing warm, his breath labored as his throat felt like it was closing up. "Wait, then you... what do you mean _hypothetical_?!"

"Hypothetical is hypothetical! If I asked you to marry me, what would you say, dumbass?!"

"That's... that's not a question you can just offer as a hypothetical! Are you asking me or not?!"

"Well how am I supposed to know if this _should_ be a serious question unless I know how you're gonna answer?!"

"Th-that's not the way things work, Kuzuryu!"

The two boys paused for breath, both overwhelmed by the pounding of their hearts and the coursing emotions that maybe they hadn't intended on airing just right then. After half a minute, Kuzuryu finally sat up straight again and cleared his throat.

"I... I meant... I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to exchange brotherhood cups with you," he clarified.

So he wasn't proposing. Hinata sighed; he wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed, but— wait, no, that was a sigh of relief. Kuzuryu was his friend! He wasn't... Sure, they had become really close, almost inseparable, but it wasn't like they were even _dating_ yet.

Yet?

"But, um," Kuzuryu continued, clearing his throat again when his voice began to waver, "if you— I mean... if we... if we exchange cups here, it's like... we're promising to be together for the rest of our lives anyway, right?" He gripped the edge of the table, his head bowing as he began to slouch in on himself in embarrassment. "So, I mean... if you want to... start dating seriously with the intent of looking towards marriage, I..."

Hinata's breath caught in his throat. "Kuzuryu... I—"

"God... damn, you _dumbass_!" Without warning, Kuzuryu slammed a fist upon the table, using his other hand to cover his face, red skin and a single golden eye peeking out from between his fingers. "Why the hell did you have to go and suggest marriage when we're not even dating yet, huh?! It's too early for that! And we're still in _high school_! Of course I don't wanna marry you! But... but I don't _not_ want to marry you, got it?!"

Hinata stared, shocked, until finally a laugh bubbled up from his chest. "Kuzuryu..." His smile softened. "I don't not want to marry you, either."

Kuzuryu seemed to accomplish the impossible as his face grew even redder. "Well... well _good_! Glad we're on the same page." He fumbled with the cap to the water bottle, almost dropping it between trembling fingers. "For now, let's... let's just exchange brotherhood cups."

"Yeah." Hinata stared at the water as it filled his cup. "Yeah, that... let's do that."

There was a pause after Kuzuryu filled both their cups as the yakuza stared silently at the table between them. "And, um," he said at last, tapping his own cup nervously. "Do you... should we start dating now, too?"

Hinata laughed. "Yeah, I... guess we should."

* * *

 **Notes:** boyssssssssssssss


	25. On one of their birthdays (fem kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Genderswap AU! These girls are just so precious, I had to come back to them...

* * *

 **Day 27: On one of their birthdays**

Hinata stared down at her phone nervously, the date on the LINE profile taunting her from where it glowed on the screen.

 _August 16._

That was Fuyumi Kuzuryu's birthday, and it was a week away.

It wasn't that Hinata was agonizing over a present or anything—she'd put those five days of stress behind her a week earlier, when she had finally found and settled on a cell phone charm. It was pretty cute: a miniature model of a chocolate parfait on a thin cord fastener, with tiny Swarovski crystal accents to give it a slightly more refined air. It was already wrapped and stored safely in Hinata's desk drawer.

The problem was that Kuzuryu hadn't mentioned anything about her birthday herself.

Hinata worried at her bottom lip as she scrolled through their conversation, confirming that there was no mention of a birthday. She felt a bit stupid; here she had gone and gotten herself all excited about celebrating her friend's birthday without considering the idea that _maybe she wasn't going to be invited to any celebration_. Maybe Kuzuryu was holding a party that would only be for her own classmates, girls that she had known for longer than just two months. Really, there was nothing that the two of them had in common to begin with, except that they sometimes rode the same train.

But, well... she had the phone charm wrapped and ready. Even if she wasn't invited to celebrate with Kuzuryu, Hinata at least wanted to give her the present. It was summer vacation, so they didn't meet up as regularly and predictably as during the school year—whereas they would meet up and go window shopping after school once or twice a week, they had hung out a whopping four times the first week of vacation, and not at all since them—so they'd have to coordinate some time to get together.

Sighing, and with nerves eating at her insides, Hinata scrolled back to the bottom of their conversation and began typing out a message.

 _-So your birthday is coming up soon, right?_

With that expertly-crafted line out of her system, Hinata collapsed back onto the veranda, staring up at her mom's laundry swaying silently in the ineffectual August breeze like some sort of poor man's windchime. What was she so nervous about, anyway? It wasn't like Hinata had never had _friends_ before or anything. She had just... never had a friend quite like Kuzuryu, somehow.

She fisted her hand in her shirt, right above her sternum. Maybe she should get go back inside the apartment; the humidity was making it hard to breathe.

Her phone buzzed and Hinata sat up straight again, grabbing it from the floor and opening up the messaging app as quickly as her fingers would allow.

 _-Yeah I guess! Being born around Obon kinda sucks tho. No one's ever around for a party or anything, so it's usually just me, my family, and Fujiya._

Relief washed over her; so she hadn't been invited to a party because there _was_ no party to be invited to?

 _-Oh same! I mean, not that my birthday is coming up or anything, it's on January 1... but it's always impossible to find many people who want to spend New Year's going to some girl's birthday party._

 _-You totally get it then! Yeah, so I kinda gave up on ever planning anything for my birthday lmao_

And then half a minute later, just as Hinata was about to start tapping out a reply, another message arrived.

 _-So are you going anywhere for Obon?_

She felt her chest tighten. That half-minute pause, that roundabout way of asking spoke volumes. Kuzuryu usually acted confident and outgoing, but there were times, every once in a while, when Hinata could see glimpses of a girl who was just a little bit awkward about interacting with her peers. This was one of those times.

Hinata was suddenly immensely glad that her grandmother in the countryside had thrown out her back and didn't feel up to entertaining guests that year—and then was immensely remorseful for thinking such a terrible thing, but she couldn't fight her grin as she sent her reply.

 _-No, not this year! I'm just sticking around at home. Did you want to meet up at some point?_

Kuzuryu's response was a sticker depicting a large, buff yakuza gangster pumping his fist in triumph, followed by a text message to clarify:

 _-Yeah sure! There's actually a summer festival not far from me that's scheduled on for the 16th if you want to go with me?_

Hinata's smile widened. A festival! She was already getting excited just thinking of how much fun it would be to go around the festival together, and she'd have the opportunity to give Kuzuryu her birthday present after all.

 _-Yeah, let's do it! Where and when?_

By the time their plans were settled, Hinata's cheeks hurt from grinning so hard, and her heart was pounding in her chest. That couldn't be a good sign; she probably should head into the air conditioning after all, before she collapsed of heatstroke.

So she stood up and stepped inside, hugging her phone to her chest.

* * *

Hinata arrived embarrassingly early at their agreed-upon meeting place, just outside the festival entrance. She shifted her pochette on her shoulder nervously, making sure that the present was still inside there, safe and sound. Sighing, she fanned herself with as she waited; the afternoon's scorching heat was still stubbornly sticking around, but hopefully it would start to cool down soon when the sun began to set.

FIfteen minutes before they were scheduled to meet, Hinata spotted Kuzuryu's car approaching to drop the small girl off. The Kuzuryu family was obviously very well-off—the bodyguard, the personal chauffeur, everything about Kuzuryu pointed towards that fact—but Hinata still hadn't managed to get the full story from her friend.

And, true to form, Kuzuryu stepped out of the car fully decked out in extravagant summer festival wear—a yukata with a base color of butter yellow transitioning to vermilion, patterned with pink and red chrysanthemums; a crimson obi with a glittering golden obijime; blonde hair pulled into a high loose bun, adorned with a kanzashi hairpin in shades of red and pink; she even wore tabi socks and zori sandals, and carried a kinchaku pouch made of red fabric patterned with pink blossoms.

As she stepped daintily towards the entrance with the car pulling away behind her, Kuzuryu looked the very picture of a fairytale princess. Then her eyes locked onto Hinata and she paused mid-step, shattering the image as she opened her mouth to exclaim:

"Why the fuck aren't you in yukata?!"

Hinata looked down at her own clothing: a shapeless unisex tee shirt and a denim skirt that was meant to reach the wearer's knees, but against her lanky legs it was several centimeters shorter. She winced, embarrassed. "I'm too tall to wear yukata," she explained, her ears burning. "No one carries women's kimono that are long enough for me..."

"Shit, really? Now I feel weird, being the only one of us dressed like this." Kuzuryu pouted up at her, fiddling with the whorls of hair trailing from her bun. "I wish you'd said something last week. I know a good place that does custom kimono, I could have had one made for you..."

"Oh, no!" Hinata shook her head sharply. "I mean, if I wanted a custom yukata, I would have gotten one ages ago... I probably won't bother spending that kind of money until my coming of age ceremony." She laughed wryly. "I don't think I'd be able to pull one off anyway. I'm not cute like you."

Kuzuryu took a step back to glare up at her, and Hinata clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling her cheeks flare up as she realized what she said. Gosh, they hadn't even started walking around, and _already_ she just wanted to shrivel up and die. She almost wanted to flat-out refuse in embarrassment when Kuzuryu crooked a finger to beckon her closer. "Hey. Lean over for a sec."

Fighting down the mortification and trying not to be afraid of whatever Kuzuryu was about to do, she leaned forward, finding herself close enough to catch a whiff of Kuzuryu's shampoo—it smelled like honeysuckle and raindrops and was entirely overwhelming.

Kuzuryu reached towards Hinata's face, and Hinata tried not to flinch away when soft fingers brushed against her temple. Then, in a swift motion, Kuzuryu used her other hand to pull her kanzashi from her bun and pin it just above Hinata's ear.  
"There you go," Kuzuryu said, grinning triumphantly even as a few golden tendrils escaped to land on her shoulders. "See? You're totally cute, Hinata."

Well, Hinata hadn't thought her face could burn any brighter, but apparently it had other plans. She touched the hairpin gently, tentatively; the silk flowers were soft under her fingertips, and the trailing petals tickled the tip of her ear whenever she moved. She couldn't help but feel incredibly self-conscious and uncomfortable with the unfamiliar sensation. "I mean, you say 'see,' but I can't actually see what I look like..."

"You'll just have to trust me, then," Kuzuryu said flippantly, tossing her kinchaku over her shoulder in a quite un-ladylike manner as she walked towards the food stands. "And I say you look cute. Shit, that hairpin looks better on you than me. You can keep it if you want."

"I couldn't—!" Hinata followed after, quickly catching up with the blonde. "I mean, why are you giving me something when it's _your_ birthday? Oh, right..."

Hinata slowed her steps to dig into her pochette, and Kuzuryu stopped as well, turning to look up at her.

"Ah... here." Hinata pulled out the present, the ribbon a little wrinkled by being squashed in her bag, and held it out. "Happy birthday."

It was Kuzuryu's turn to flush as she accepted the gift. "I, well... shit, you didn't have to get me a present," she mumbled.

"But it's your birthday!" Hinata laughed. "How can you say that when you just gave _me_ something?"

"Because..." Kuzuryu suttered a bit, picking at the edge of the wrapping paper bashfully. "B-because... I just want you to look your best too, okay?! And next year I'm gonna buy you that custom yukata!"

"What?!" Hinata gaped at her. "No, no, that's too much! You can't just—"

"Too bad! It's my birthday and what I want is for you to have a yukata to wear!" She poked Hinata in the chest, grinning devilishly. "And when we go visit a shrine for _your_ birthday I'll make sure to give you a custom-made furisode, too."

"A furi— Kuzuryu!" Hinata ran to catch up with her friend as she dashed off towards the cotton candy stand. "That's _way_ too expensive! N-no, not..." She held her palms up in surrender when the cotton candy vendor shot her a nasty glare. "S-sorry, sir, I didn't mean the cotton candy..."

Kuzuryu cackled, two sticks of cotton candy in her hands, and passed one off to Hinata. "Whatever, let's just forget about that. It's not until January, anyway."

Pouting, Hinata took the cotton candy. "You're still giving me stuff even though it's your birthday," she grumbled.

Kuzuryu only shot her a grin before turning to lead the way down the line of stalls.

The kanzashi petals tickled Hinata's ear again, and she reached up to caress it. It just wasn't fair. Hinata had been pretty proud of the present she got for Kuzuryu, but that just couldn't compare. Cotton candy aside, Kuzuryu just kept offering her such wonderful things—the kanzashi, the offer of companionship on her own birthday as if it were natural, and the warm feelings that fluttered about her chest with such an aching thrill, it almost made her want to cry in the best possible way.

* * *

 **Notes:** Somehow I... couldn't fit Kuzuryu opening her birthday present into the fic, but... she totally opened it eventually and loved it! Just trust me on this!


	26. Doing something ridiculous (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Once upon a time, I just spontaneously thought of this fic idea when I was bored at work, and immediately I wanted to throw myself to the floor and curl up in shame, because it was so bizarre and ridiculous that I was embarrassed to have ever even thought of it.

But I still kind of wanted to write it.

So... I used it for this prompt.

Island Mode AU, I guess.

* * *

 **Day 28: Doing something ridiculous**

"Shit."

Hinata stood up from where he was searching through the surf and looked over at Kuzuryu. "Is something wrong?" Worry pooled in the pit of his stomach when he saw the yakuza holding a hand clamped over his right eye, and he hurriedly waded his way over to the other boy. "Is it hurting? Your injury didn't open up, did it?"

"My eye is fine," Kuzuryu muttered, using his free hand to flap away Hinata's worried advances. "My eyepatch just fell off, that's all."

"Your eyepa— oh." Now that he mentioned it, the Hinata couldn't see the strap stretching across Kuzuryu's short blond hair. He looked down at the surface of the water, glancing around for the rogue piece of fabric. "I'll get it for you. Where is it?"

Kuzuryu pointed further out into the water. "I think it floated over that way, but— wait!" Just as Hinata was about to make his way out to the deeper waters, Kuzuryu grabbed his arm with both hands. "Seriously, you don't need to go out there, Hinata. It's already gone."

"Relax, Kuzuryu," Hinata laughed, trying to keep his gaze from lingering on the mess of healing scabs covering Kuzuryu's eyelid. "I'm fine with it, I know you get spooked by going too far—"

"No I fucking don't you dumbass!"

"Okay, fine, you don't." Hinata sighed, giving up. "It's probably gone by now anyway. Do you have a spare?"

Kuzuryu dropped Hinata's arm and headed back to shore. "Nah. I could probably get another one made for me if I ask Usami or Tsumiki, but it's really not a big deal in the meantime."

"You sure?" Hinata followed him to the beach, rolling his pants back to down as he exited the water. "Maybe we should find something else to cover it until then."

Kuzuryu snorted. "If it's that sickening to look at, just say so."

"That's not— I just don't want anything bad to happen from it being exposed for so long." Sighing, Hinata dug through his pockets; he had to have _something_ they could use as a temporary patch, some sort of bandage or fabric or—

Ah.

"You, uh. You could use this if you want," Hinata said, pulling a piece of fabric from his pocket and offering it to the other boy.

Kuzuryu stared at the piece of cloth, confusion flicking across his face before for the briefest of seconds before recognition set in, and with it a rush of color to his cheeks. "That's— you— that's my _underwear_ you moron!"

"W-well... yeah," Hinata said, clearing his throat nervously. "It is. But I figure it's about the right size, if we use some thread or something to tie it around—"

"Why the fuck are you even carrying that around with you?!"

Hinata frowned. "You're the one who gave it to me."

"Yeah, but not for you to _carry everywhere_!"

"Well what do you expect me to do with it?"

"Well I sure as hell don't expect you to _suggest I wear that embarrassing shit on my face_!"

Hinata breathed out in exasperation; to be fair, the pattern on the underwear _was_ a bit... loud. "Maybe Pekoyama's would be better? It's just a plain black fabric. I should have that with me somewhere too..."

"And why the fuck do you have _Peko's_ underwear?!" Kuzuryu's voice raised an octave as he latched on to the new line of questioning.

"I have pretty much everyone's underwear," Hinata said nonchalantly, pulling a random pair from his pocket. No, that was Nidai's. Pekoyama's must be somewhere else.

" _Everyone's?!_ " Kuzuryu looked absolutely betrayed. "I thought we had something special when I gave you that underwear, but now you're telling me that you have _everyone else's_ underwear, too?!"

"Well, I still don't have Saionji's or Togami's, but..."

"And you didn't think that was the least bit weird?!"

Hinata blinked. "I mean... no one had ever given me underwear before _you_ did, and sure it was weird, but then it just _kept happening_ , so..."

"And you didn't even think to question it?!"

Hinata rubbed at his forehead, growing weary of the argument. "Okay, then, fine. I'll question it. Kuzuryu, why did you give me your underwear?"

Kuzuryu gaped, a blush forming across his cheeks. "Wh— just because, asshole! I just kind of felt compelled to for some reason! Got a problem?!"

"No, I just..." Hinata sighed; Kuzuryu was clearly in one of his moods where he got too defensive to divulge anything remotely helpful. "You know what, we've gotten off topic. Your eye. We need to get that covered up."

Kuzuryu placed a hand upon his right cheekbone, as if he had forgotten that it was exposed. "Oh... right." His brows knitted thoughtfully for a moment before he sighed, turning to Hinata dejectedly. "Look, I _really_ don't want to wear underwear on my face."

"Believe me, man, I don't blame you."

"Yeah." He gulped nervously. "but, I mean, if that's the best thing you have..." Cheeks stained red, he held out a hand palm-up, frowning as he waited for it to be handed over.

Trying to suppress a laugh, but failing to keep from smirking, Hinata gave Kuzuryu the blue-and-yellow underwear. "I'll want that back afterwards, though."

"Fuck you." Kuzuryu snatched the underwear and jammed it onto the right side of his head, frowning deeply all the while. "As soon as I get a replacement patch I'm ripping this off and I don't even _want_ to know what you'll do with it afterwards."

"Fair enough." Hinata studied Kuzuryu as they began the walk back to Jabberwock Park, humming thoughtfully. "It honestly looks pretty good on you, though. As—!" He caught himself too late, flushing as he tried to backpedal. "As an eyepatch, I mean!"

Kuzuryu scoffed, his blush still present. "Looks even better where it's supposed to be worn, dumbass."

* * *

 **Notes:** what... what even did I just write.


	27. Doing something sweet (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Kibougaoka AU... *eyes emoji*

* * *

 **Day 29: Doing something sweet**

There wasn't much in the world that made Hinata's heart soar with bliss more than waking up in the morning to see Kuzuryu at his side. He wasn't sure exactly why it was so thrilling and yet so calming, opening his eyes to the sight of his boyfriend right there next to him. Maybe it was the way that the morning sun made his skin and hair glow with a golden halo, or the all-encompassing warmth lingering underneath their shared covers. But even that didn't seem right, as he'd experience a similar feeling even when he woke up to see that Kuzuryu had already gotten up, rumpled bedsheets left behind as proof that he had been there all night.

Usually, Kuzuryu was the first to wake up; Hinata had noticed that he only would allow himself to sleep in if they had had sex the night before, and that was an exceedingly rare occurrence during his weekly visits to the Kuzuryu house. So if Kuzuryu was still in bed when Hinata woke up, it was really only for Hinata's benefit—or maybe Kuzuryu loved seeing him asleep by his side just as much as he did.

Either possibility had Hinata's heart swelling with warmth.

Hinata just wished that he could wake up like that every morning, but it simply wasn't possible. He ached for these light, comfortable feelings to be part of his daily routine, but even if his boyfriend weren't part of the criminal underground, he couldn't bring him to spend the night at the police dormitories. The Kuzuryu house was too far to commute from on work days, as were any hotels distant enough from Hinata's precinct to be considered discreet—to say nothing of the booking fees they would rack up, nor of the complaints he was sure to get from Sakakura for being absent from the dorms so often.

So Hinata had to be content with it as only an occasional indulgence. He figured that the novelty of it would only make it that much more precious, anyway...

But even if it did happen every day, Hinata truly couldn't imagine ever tiring of having Kuzuryu by his side all night.

Smiling softly, Hinata pushed himself onto his elbows and leaned over to lightly kiss Kuzuryu's lips.

Kuzuryu's eyes fluttered open immediately—he must have already been awake, then. "Morning," he muttered, low in his chest.

'Morning," Hinata returned, pulling up to place a feather-light kiss upon the bit of Kuzuryu's exposed shoulder peeking out from under the blankets.

Humming contentedly, Kuzuryu reached out and grabbed Hinata by the bicep, pulling him back under the covers. "Get back under here."

Hinata chuckled, obediently lying down again and nestling his body against Kuzuryu's, then nuzzled his nose in the smaller man's hair. His heart felt so full, his chest nearly overflowing with sweet, gentle emotions that threatened to bubble up in the form of words. Softly, little more than a slight exhale, Hinata whispered against Kuzuryu's forehead, "We should get our own apartment."

"The fuck?" Kuzuryu's light laugh sapped any edge the words might have had. "Are you half-asleep still?"

"Maybe," Hinata admitted. "But I think about it sometimes. If we did, we could have mornings like this every day."

"Hmm... tempting." Kuzuryu pulled himself upward to lazily meet Hinata's lips with his. "I've been kinda thinking about it, too. That I should set up someplace to stay closer to Kibougaoka..."

"Really?"

"Don't get too excited, dumbass." Kuzuryu gave Hinata's lower lip a quick, playful nip. "There's no way they'd let it just be me and you. At the very least, Peko would be around too."

"She's pretty good about leaving us alone, though," Hinata murmured, casting his gaze to the bedroom door when he heard soft footsteps passing in hall outside.

"Hey." Kuzuryu's hand reached up and cupped Hinata's cheek, directing his face back towards him. "I didn't give you permission to look away from me, asshole."

Hinata laughed, happily answering Kuzuryu's mock irritation by curling his arms around the other man, pulling him close, dropping reverent kisses upon his flushed cheeks.

No, Hinata couldn't possibly ever tire of mornings like this.


	28. Doing something hot (kuzuhina)

**Notes:** Last one! Island Mode AU.

* * *

 **Day 30: Doing something hot**

Sweat was dripping down Hinata's flushed face, getting into his eyes, making it hard to focus on the blonde boy straddling his body, but he couldn't wipe the sweat away; his hands were otherwise occupied. "Shit, Kuzuryu," he gasped. "Can you ease up a bit? It's so tight..."

"Stop whining," came Kuzuryu's response, and he planted his hands upon Hinata's chest to lean closer. From what Hinata could see through his blurred vision, Kuzuryu seemed to be grinning deviously. "It's your fault for letting your guard down, and now you have to live with that decision."

"Kuzuryu...!" Hinata growled as the yakuza sat up again and returned to his movements. This was too much; he wouldn't be able to stand it much longer. "Seriously, I'm reaching my limit here..."

Kuzuryu said nothing, too focused on his own enjoyment to do more than hum noncommittally.

Hinata squeezed his eyes shut; it was too much, _way_ too much. He tried to wriggle himself out, but when that again proved fruitless, he gritted his teeth and finally gasped out:

"Goddammit, Kuzuryu, just dig me out of this sand already! I'm burning up in here!"

"Whaaat?" Hinata could _hear_ the cheeky grin in the yakuza's voice, and if his ears weren't playing tricks on him, it was accompanied by some several other light chuckles—so their classmates had gathered around to spectate, too. _Great._ "You've got some nerve to try bossing me around like that when _you're_ the one who fell asleep during our beach outing."

"Yeah, Hinata," came Souda's voice—and it was alarmingly close. Hinata's eyes snapped open, blinking painfully through the sweat, and he tried to level a glare at the mechanic cheerfully adding sizable "assets" to the sand piled on top of him. "Where's your sense of class unity?"

"I was warm and comfortable, sue me," he grumbled, cranky from the less-than-ideal situation he had woken up to. He tried moving his limbs again, but the sand was oppressively heavy on his body. "Dammit, Kuzuryu, how tightly did you pack this? Let me out."

"Are you sure?" Kuzuryu's grin widened, his eye crinkling into an amused crescent. "And here I went out of my way to give you one of those sand bath spa treatments. They're supposed to be good for you."

"I-it's true," Tsumiki piped up timidly. "Sand baths are supposed to help cleanse your body of toxins, in addition to aiding with asthma, anemia, back pain, in... infertility..." Her tiny voice shrank further. "But... I-I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be done with volcanic sand, not regular beach sand..."

"You hear that, Hinata?" That shit-eating grin _still_ wasn't fading, and while normally Hinata would have been thrilled to see such unbridled glee on Kuzuryu's face, he wasn't quite the position to appreciate it. "It's supposed to help with infertility."

Hinata's glare sharpened; that wasn't an issue that he had to worry about, and Kuzuryu _knew that_.

"Okay, I think that's enough," Koizumi said, stepping forward. "You've had your fun, now let him out."

"I agree," Togami added, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Hinata's clearly uncomfortable."

"Ooh, does that mean I can destroy it now?" Saionji latched onto Koizumi's arm, bouncing in excitement. "Can I destroy it, Koizumi-onee?!"

"Well, I mean..."

"Yay!" Koizumi Saionji leapt forward, grazing Hanamura's fingers as she gleefully kicked away whatever he had been painstakingly sculpting around Hinata's pelvic area.

 _Thank god for Hiyoko Saionji._

Seconds later Mioda joined in on the carnage, and soon Hinata was crying uncle for a different reason altogether. "Okay, okay, stop! I can move now, that's enough! You're going to trample me!"

Saionji pouted. "So?"

 _Okay, I take that back._ As Togami and Koizumi ushered the class back to their beach activities, Hinata pushed scooted himself out of the loosened sand and into a sitting position with a sigh. Kuzuryu, the only one to stay behind, sat down next to him with a huff, and Hinata answered with a cocked eyebrow. "What was that all about?"

"What, the sand?" Kuzuryu waved a dismissive hand. "You were an easy target. Like I said, it's your fault for falling asleep here."

"Seriously, just that?" Hinata gave a dry laugh as he tried brushing off the sand caking his torso and arms and swim trunks and—well, everywhere. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, though, I guess."

Kuzuryu scoffed. "Yeah, well, one of the few interesting dumbasses on this island went and fell asleep on me. Had to amuse myself somehow."

Hinata smiled, his foul mood all but forgotten. One of the interesting ones, huh? He heaved himself to his feet, taking a brief moment to brush some of the sand from his legs before turning to Kuzuryu, extending a hand to him. "Wanna go take a bit of a swim with me, then? I need to try and get this all washed off."

Kuzuryu stared at him for a moment, his single golden eye squinting up at him against the tropical sunlight, until he frowned, blushed, and accepted Hinata's hand. "Yeah, okay," he muttered as Hinata pulled him to his feet.

And as they walked towards the ocean where the rest of their classmates were waiting, their hands remained clasped together, as if there was nothing more natural in the world.

* * *

 **Notes:** And that's the end! I hope there were some people out there who enjoyed reading these challenge ficlets as much as I enjoyed writing them!

To wrap this all up, and to poke a bit of fun at myself and my glaring flaws as an author, I'm gonna post some statistics. Just for fun. I like numbers, and I've spent waaaaaay too much time with _words_ this month.

 **30 Day OTP Challenge Statistics**

Total fandoms: 3  
Total ships: 4.5  
Total times I actually posted on time: 8...  
Total days spent rated T: 1  
Total kuzuhina ficlets: 24  
Longest kuzuhina streak: 13 days  
Total number of different AUs: 6  
Total times I fell back on the ever-versatile Island Mode: 8  
Total times I wrote something that was actually canon compliant: 8.5  
Total adverbs: 766  
Total times the word "gold" (or some variation) was used: 27  
Total times the phrase "a bit" was used: 41  
Total times someone was thoughtful: 17  
Total times someone hummed: 11  
Total times someone blushed: 62  
Profanity count: 112 and a middle finger (special shout-out to the one time Hogwarts!Kuzu said "bloody")  
Total times kuzuhina had sex (either on-screen or off): 4  
Total words in my unedited NaNoWriMo doc: 50,705!? ("I'm not aiming for 50k words" LOL WHAT HAPPENED)  
Total reviews on FFN: 0 (thanks guys lmao)

Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
